New Waves
by Nixie the Water Mage
Summary: * CHAPTER 10 UP* How different would things be if the tennis teams had managers? Namely... Seigaku and Rikkai? Potential amusement ahead! -OCs insert; manga storyline-
1. Prologue: Kitsuke Miyuki

_Yahhooooiiii_~ :3

Eh... I know I normally _don't_ write PoT stuff, but I was on a Tenimyu-high, and then my friend got me into PoT, and then I re-read the entire manga, and... yea. You get the drift. 8D;;;

While we decided to upload this on my account, it's really co-written (read: she gave me the ideas and I write them _allllllll_). I wanted to upload it on hers, but ah well~ *SHOT*

Oh, and, um. This includes one or two or three OCs. *cough* maybe more, IDK. *coughcoughcough* And we mostly follow manga's storyline, so that way, it's easier to slot in stuff from the anime. Like Jr. Senbatsu. Mwehehehe. *SHOT DEAD*

So. Um. Anyway. Yea. On with the story *flees*.

**(insert line break here)**

It has been years since Samurai Nanjirou's retirement, Inoue Mamoru of _Monthly Pro Tennis_ realized with a start. There had been no reason cited for his retirement whatsoever - that is, nothing, save something the samurai had said about finding a new dream. Even when he went to find him, Nanjirou did not reveal the exact reason for his leave from the world of professional tennis.

"Why did you leave professional tennis?" the reporter had asked after his failed attempts to get a ball pass the other's guard. "The tennis world has not been the same since your generation, Samurai Nanjirou."

The samurai let out a short bark of laughter as he lit another cigarette, his eyes closed. "No," Nanjirou answered with what looked like a smirk on his lips. He opened his eyes then, sharp eyes looking directly at Inoue. "A new wave is coming."

"...a new, _strong_ wave. It'll shake the foundations of the tennis world as we know it." Nanjirou laughed then, and Inoue knew that the other man was thinking about a certain cap-wearing teen.

'Was the Tokyo Prefectural really just a few weeks ago?' Inoue wondered to himself as he looked for - and found - the magazine issue he was looking for. Flipping to the page he wanted, a picture of Seishun Gakuen's tennis club looked back at him. The reporter stared at the picture for a moment before he chuckled.

"Yes," he agreed to Nanjirou's prior words, "a new wave will come."

He set the magazine down and checked the calendar. "Today's the day they draw the order for Kantou," he commented idly before leaning back onto his chair. "I look forward to the games we'll see then."

**(insert line break here)**

In Kanagawa Prefecture, the captain and vice-captain of Seishun Gakuen tennis club stood before a hall in Rikkai Dai Fuzoku Jr. High School. The school was huge, and Oishii thought that if Tezuka was not there to lead him, he'd get lost - Tezuka had gone to the exact same hall last year, after all. The sign before them said, in big, bold words: _XXth National Junior High Tennis Tournament: Kantou. Tournament Placement Selection Meeting Place_.

"See, see, _see_? I _toooold _you I could find the place!"

...of course, it also helped that their manager's brother was studying in the same school as last year's Nationals winners. The hyperactive child (yes, child, for she is too... _childlike_ to be called a teenager) Seigaku had for a manager often visited the school to find her brother, after all.

"Yes, Miyuki, we know," Oishii answered patiently with a smile, and Tezuka sighed.

Miyuki grinned back at him. Small and petite, she had long red hair that she left loose (which she had revealed she wanted to cut, but could not as her brothers liked her hair long) and, as previously mentioned, very, _very_ hyperactive. Clad in the female's version of the school uniform, she was there to represent the school's female tennis team for the combination order drawings... though hers was in a different hall.

"And in any case," Tezuka told their excitable manager, "the hall for the female teams to meet isn't this one, Kitsuke," he said. Miyuki tilted her head to the side cutely.

"...it's not?" she echoed, then jumped when the trio heard a familiar voice.

"No it's not," came the voice of one Sengoku Kiyosumi. "We passed by it though - it's down that way," he said, pointing in the direction he and the captain of Yamabuki Junior High - Minami Kentarou - had came from. Panicking, the redhead bid her leave from them and dashed down the path.

"As usual, she's so excitable," Sengoku said with a laugh. Turning and smiling at the other two, he added, "If you pull that sort of face, all your good luck will run away!"

**(insert line break here)**

As Miyuki ran down the path, she spotted a hall - not the one she was supposed to go to, but she got curious due to the yelling and cheering she heard in it. Curious (and obviously distracted from her actual goal), she turned and walked into it... and immediately covered her ears at the suddenly-louder volume of cheers and yells.

"What's happening here...?" she wondered to herself, scooting round to what-looked-like a scoreboard. "Inter-school karate competition...?" she read, tilting her head and blinking.

"_Ara_... Kitsuke-_san janaii desu ka_," came a voice Miyuki was familiar with, and she turned, blinking.

"Yagyuu-_san da_~!" she said with a cheer, rushing over to the bespectacled teen and hugging him. Upon noticing he was wearing his tennis jersey, she blinked. "Were you having practice?" she asked.

Yagyuu patted her head with a smile before he answered. "I was," he said, "but our manager is in this competition, so we came to support her for a while before we return to training."

"...'we'? 'Manager'?" Miyuki echoed, confused, before grinning and waving at the silver-haired teen who was walking towards them.

"_Ho~h_... if it isn't Yagyuu's biggest fan," he greeted, smirking with a short "puri" when Miyuki pouted at him. "What're you doing here today? Looking for Yagyuu or for Kitsuke?"

Miyuki shook her head. "No~pe," she answered sing-songly. "I have to go draw lots for my school's female tennis team."

The two regulars of Rikkai blinked. "...didn't it start already?"

Miyuki jumped. "_Mweeeeee~ I'm laaateeeee!_" she cried, rushing out of the hall she was in after waving at them quickly.

The two stared after her for a moment before the silverette spoke. "Oi, Yagyuu. Takeuchi's round is about to start."

"Ah, then let's go, Niou-_kun_." Niou nodded in response, and they headed off into the sea of people to support their manager - though it was not like she needed it. Last they checked the scoreboard, she had five more rounds before she won the competition... and it was not like she would _lose_, anyway.

**(insert line break here)**

Don't worry! We actually have the timeline planned out ("not really," says the co-writer). The OCs back stories will be slotted in via interludes and special chapters. We don't know when they'll be, but yea. They will be there. Mwehehehe~~

Reviews? Please? Q n Q)/


	2. Prologue: Takeuchi Rei

N-no reviews for the last chapter? *sadface + okay (dot) jpg* (Too much 9gag orz)

Anyway, there are more than 3 OCs in this story, but only two of them are the main focuses.

As for their back stories... well... look forward to them interludes, aye? :D

**(this be line break, mwehehehehe)**

"Hmm…"

"Is something the matter, Takeuchi-chan?" Yagyuu asked as he adjusted his glasses. The tennis team was having their regular training at the time, and he had stopped for a quick water break when he saw their manager staring at a piece of paper in her hands from her usual spot on the coach's bench. She looked up at him, ponytail swishing from the movement, and brown eyes blinked at him.

"No, it's nothing, _senpai_," she answered, standing up from the bench and stretching. The elder teen frowned slightly at the bandage wrapped around her wrist – an injury she had gotten from the competition during the lot drawings (she had won, and the tennis team took her out for dinner to celebrate despite her saying it was not necessary) – but said nothing, knowing she gets irritated when anyone attempts to coddle her. "I think I'll leave early and see _buchou_. He has been anxious to know who we were competing against."

Yagyuu nodded and helped her gather her papers together – the main reason why she conquered an entire bench on her own. Accidentally reading points on a sheet of paper she labeled '_Akaya-baka_' – written entirely in English to stop said _baka_ from reading it – he nearly could not hold back his laughter at a point she had written.

"…is something wrong, _senpai_?" she asked, frowning as she filed her papers together. She took a quick peek at the paper in his hands and grinned. "Ah. I see."

"Really, Takeuchi-chan? 'I like cuttlefish'?" he asked with a chuckle.

The younger teen giggled. "Double protection, Yagyuu-_senpai_, in the off-chance Akaya decides to take his English lessons properly. I wrote in code." Here, she huffed slightly. "Yanagi-_senpai_ could decipher them easily, though. As expected of the data master."

Yagyuu handed the paper back to her with another chuckle, and she filed that with the others. "True enough," he agreed as the younger finished up her packing and shouldered her bag – her file remained in her hands. "Let Yukimura-kun know we'll come by after practice."

"You got it," she answered with a small salute. She turned and walked towards their cap-wearing vice captain to inform him of her decision, and the volley master of the team nearly caught her in an overly-enthusiastic hug, declaring that they needed to visit the arcade soon and that "I'll win our next DDR round and bring the score back to a draw, Rei!"… which she answered with a deadpan "oh please, you're buying the next round of parfaits".

She left soon after that, and Yagyuu could not help but smile at the way she had worn the school's tennis jersey over her school uniform – Rei decided she would not participate in their training today due to her injury, much to most of the regulars' relief, but brought the jersey "just because she can", her words exactly (Kirihara Akaya, who had grown up with her, had bluntly told them that she forgot to take it out of her bag and proceeded to get chased around the school by said manager right before practice).

"_Hoh_…" came the voice of a certain trickster. "When did she start wearing her jersey like Yukimura?" The silver-haired teen smirked. "I saw something interesting."

"Niou, Yagyuu! Get back to practice!" The thundering voice of one Sanada Genichirou stopped the bespectacled teen from answering the trickster, but they shared a smile (or smirk, in Niou's case) before they did as they were told.

**(this be line break too :D)**

Yukimura Seiichi had been flipping through a book – _The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_ that he had requested to borrow from Yagyuu – when the now-_very_-familiar face of Rikkai's manager came through the door. He noted with slight amusement that she wore her jersey the way he did, but did not comment as she sat down on the nearby chair and dropped her bag on the floor beside it.

"How're you feeling today, _buchou_?" she asked by way of greeting as she removed the jersey to place it on her lap, and he chuckled. Yukimura marked his page with a bookmark and set the book aside.

"The same as I was yesterday, Rei," he answered, and watched in mild interest as the younger teen flipped through the pages of her file and pull out a piece of paper. It was promptly handed to him.

"The match-ups," she said by way of explanation. "You told me you wanted to see it as soon as I got it."

Yukimura laughed softly. "I did not mean for you to skip the team's practice to show it to me," he said even as he accepted the paper and skimmed through it. He smiled at the names he read on the paper – it was nothing the team could not handle, he was sure of it. He handed the paper back to Rei, and it was only then he noticed the bandage wrapped around her wrist.

"You got injured again?" he asked and Rei blinked, pausing momentarily in re-filing the paper before she nodded and kept the paper properly. Her file joined the jersey on her lap. "When did it happen?"

Rei blinked at him again. "Ah, when I had that inter-school competition during the lots drawing," she answered with a careless shrug. "It's no big deal."

The blue-haired teen frowned. "It's not 'no big deal', Rei," he admonished, his tone gentle yet stern at the same time. "That's the second time your wrist has been injured. Please be more careful."

"_Hai_…" she muttered, looking down momentarily. She resumed smiling soon enough, though. "Yagyuu-_senpai_ said they would come visit after practice. As usual."

Yukimura chuckled. "I look forward to it," he answered honestly, and Rei smiled at him. She gave him a quick progress report on the tennis club and soon launched into a tale of the most annoying day of her life.

"…and then Takeshi-_senpai_ joined them, _buchou_! He _joined_ them in making my life hell today!" she near-whined. Yukimura could not help but laugh – Rei was far too independent and got annoyed at anyone for doing normal, everyday things for her, and the tennis team (Akaya, especially, worried for his childhood friend the most, considering she lived alone while her parents worked overseas) often rushed to help her when she got injured, Genichirou and Renji the only two exceptions to the rule. Masaharu enjoyed doing it to tease her, and from what he heard, Hiroshi had refrained from it for a while now.

Kitsuke Takeshi, on the other hand, had told the blue-haired teen before that he saw Rei as a 'cute, younger sister character', and seeing as he actually has a younger sister (Yukimura had yet to see her, but from Kitsuke's description, thought that she must be quite cute), had quickly fallen into an 'older brother' role for Rikkai's manager – that role became more…_serious_… when he found out she was an only child and living alone.

"They were just looking out for you, Rei," he told her with a gentle smile, and she sighed.

"I know. I just… don't know how to deal with it," she confessed, scratching her cheek with a finger awkwardly, and Yukimura smiled. Rei really is far too independent for her age.

"By the way, _buchou_…" Yukimura tilted his head at her, and Rei stared right back at him. "Are you not going for the surgery?"

Yukimura sighed and leaned back against the pillows the nurses had propped up for him. "_Matta kono hanashii ka_…" he said with another sigh, and Rei rolled her eyes at him.

"Yes, again," she deadpanned. "I know the doctor said it was a 50-50 thing, but why don't you give it a try?" Brown eyes blinked at him inquisitively. "If I were in your position, _buchou_, I would rather go for the surgery and potentially survive rather than do nothing and…_disappear_ like that." She tilted her head. "Unless you try, _buchou_, you'll never know the outcome."

The blue-haired teen sighed, though he was slightly amused that Rei did not say "die" like he thought she would – she was unpredictable and that bit innocent that way. "I…"

"_Buchou,_ we're here to visit you!"

"Akaya, _damattore_!"

"Kirihara-kun, Takeuchi-chan. We're in a hospital, keep your voices down please."

"The percentage they'll do as you tell them to is 10%, Yagyuu."

"Did you get any cakes today, Yukimura?"

"Marui, you shouldn't take Yukimura's cakes!"

"…_puri_."

Yukimura chuckled, and there was a sigh from beside him. "_Tarundoru_…"

"It's fine, Genichirou," Yukimura said with a smile. "I prefer it like this here. It's too quiet normally."

The cap-wearing teen blinked at him before he nodded slowly. "I see."

'And in any case,' the blue-haired teen thought even as he laughed at his teammates' antics. 'I need to think. Rei's words had merit, after all.'

All too soon the nurse came to inform them visiting hours were over, and the team shuffled out of the door with promise to return and visit again, as well as a promise to stay undefeated for his return.

Rei had, after shouldering her bag and putting her jersey on again (he tried not to smile at the way she wore it again), smiled at him near-sadly and left with more words that made him think.

"Think about it, _buchou_," she commented softly. "It's far too early to give up now."

**(more line breaks?)**

With this, the prologues are done!

Next chapter will jump back to focus on Seigaku and their manager... and, wait. We're in Kanto already?

Um. Uh. _Seigaku, fight!_

__Oh, right. I nearly forgot.

1. _Senpai_ = senior

2. _Akaya-baka_ literally translates to "Stupid Akaya"

3. _Buchou_ is "Captain". Subsequently, _fukubuchou_ is "Vice-captain"

4. _Matta kono hanashii ka_ is essentially "Not this topic again", but it literally translates to "this talk again"

5. _Damattore_ is essentially "keep quiet". This is Rei's catch-phrase. :D


	3. Chapter 1: Start of Kantou

S-Still no reviews? Okay. *hides in corner and cries*

In any case, as promised, the focus is back on Seigaku… and it's the start of Kantou. Whoo!

…somehow, I wonder if them OCs are catching anyone's attention. Ah well~

Edit :: I would use proper line breaks, but the site effs them up. |D Just so you know.

**( insert line break here )**

It was a nice day, Oishi Shuichiro believed. Seigaku got past the preliminaries without much problems, their manager was contentedly playing against their resident first-year ace, and…

"YOU GUYS SHOULDN'T BE TIRED YET!"

…oh who was he kidding? With Ryuuzaki-_sensei_ happily screaming at them about their upcoming rematch with Hyotei, he was a little hard-pressed to remain focused with Eiji as his doubles partner against the Fuji-Kawamura pair.

…_especially_ with Eiji as his doubles partner.

"During the prefectural tournament, only three of their regulars were sent off in the match they lost to Fudoumine!" Ryuuzaki-_sensei_ yelled.

"They'll send out their best members for the Kantou tournament," he observed, and their coach nodded in agreement. He felt bad for it, but he tuned her out when she started a quick rant on Hyotei's tennis club's background.

"It would be great if we don't play Hyotei…" Oishi heard Eiji comment. The vice-captain of the team held back a chuckle when he heard Eiji's muttered "I hate those guys".

Echizen, calm as ever, easily returned a drop shot Miyuki had hit his way (the manager pouted when she could not get to it on time, thus losing her service game). "So what," he said as he adjusted his cap. "If we defeat them all, that'll be fine."

There was a momentary silence, broken only by the sound of racquet against ball before their _sensei_ laughed. "That's right, Ryoma!" she exclaimed with mirth lacing her voice. She paused for a moment, and Oishi managed to score with his Moon Volley – though he thinks it was because Fuji let him.

"We're counting on you."

The Regulars as a whole paused to watch their rookie's reaction (Miyuki, on the other hand, had started to grin even _before_ Echizen adjusted his cap to hide his eyes). Their manager pouted again at Ryuuzaki-_sensei_'s next annoucement, though.

"All right! Based on Echizen's request, you'll be doing one extra set of stroke practice!"

"_Mweeeeee_…! Ryoma, how could you?" their long-haired manager whined, and Echizen being Echizen, shrugged.

"_Mada mada da ne_."

Oishi had laughed, as did a few of the other Regulars, at the sight of Miyuki pouting at Ryoma – who, frankly, did not seem to care. Their days after that seem to pass by even faster, though, and before they knew it… the day of the Kantou Tournament had came.

**( line breeeeaaak )**

'_Well… this was unexpected_,' Oishi thought to himself ruefully, but was still unable to surpress a chuckle. Who'd have thought that Echizen's excuse to be late the last time was really _his_ excuse this time?

Blinking as his phone rang, he excused himself from the side of the lady he helped to take the call. "_Hai, Oishi desu_."

"Hey, Oishi!" came the voice of Ryuuzaki-_sensei_. "What're you doing—"

"Ah, _gomen_, _sensei_… I had to help a pregnant lady to the nearby hospital."

"_EEEEEH~!_" Oishi was glad that he managed to brace himself for that scream, and the lady in the hospital room tried and failed to hide her mirth; apparently, she heard the scream too. The _sensei_ repeated his words once more, and he confirmed it with mild amusement. "I understand. Can you make it on time?"

"Ah… as for that… I'm not entirely sure. I don't feel right leaving her alone while her family is on the way."

There was a sigh. "That sounds just like you, Oishi," the _sensei_ said, but not without fondness lacing her voice. "All right then. I'll see what I can do."

"My apologies, _sensei_," he said sincerely. There was a fond "don't worry about it" before the line was cut. The vice-captain stared at his phone for a moment before he dialed another number. When it was picked up, he sighed. "Tezuka. It's me."

About three minutes later, he returned into the room and smiled at the lady on the bed. "Hang in there," he encouraged. "Your family will be here very soon."

"I'm really sorry," she told him. "Thanks for your help."

Rather suddenly, as Oishi was distracting the lady with small talk whilst they waited for her family, the door was opened and Momoshiro's voice startled him.

"Oishi-_senpai_!" he yelled, then added as an afterthought, "ah, _shitsureshimashita_."

"Momo…?" Oishi turned and looked at his junior questioningly. Seigaku's second-year powerhouse was sweating buckets and slightly out of breath, indicating he ran all the way to the hospital from the tournament location. (Oishi would never admit it, but he was a little hard-pressed to not smile at the headband the younger teen sported.)

"I'll wait here until her family members arrive, so please go on ahead!"

Oishi smiled at his junior, a hand on his hip, but said nothing. Momoshiro, confused by his behaviour, added, "Hurry on, Oishi-_senpai_!" before he paused. "What's wrong?"

Oishi knew that Momoshiro had pretty sharp senses and eyes when the junior put his mind to it, and Momoshiro proved him right when he took in a sharp breath. "…_masaka_…"

"Ah," Oishi answered, pulling up the sleeve of his jersey with his left hand. "It seems that my right wrist is broken."

"I'm so sorry," the lady apologized again. "It's all because of me…"

"Ah, no… don't say that!" Oishi rushed to assure her. "It's all right!"

Momoshiro was silent for a while, rather obviously gathering his thoughts. "Momoshiro," he called, and removed his Regular's jersey before the younger's confused gaze.

"Seigaku's counting on you."

"I…I can't do it!" he answered. "I can't wear that!"

Oishi surpressed a fond sigh – Momoshiro was quite like a younger brother. "Even if I go now, I'll only cause more trouble for the team," he pointed out rationally. "Don't worry about my wrist. It should be healed in about two weeks."

"B-but!"

Left with no choice, Oishi used the time card on Momoshiro. "Hurry up and go, Momo! There's no time!" He paused before smiling at his junior again. "I don't want it to end here." The vice-captain held out the jersey to Momoshiro again.

"Win against Hyotei for sure, and complete our dream of going to the nationals!"

Oishi smiled when the younger teen finally accepted the jersey he held out. "I've already told Tezuka about this," he told him. "And…" he added with a sad smile, "please help me tell Eiji that 'I'm sorry'."

He paused for a moment. "Hey Momo."

"Yeah?" the younger teen asked as he was about to head out the door, having taken off his non-Regular jacket when Oishi gestured for him to do so.

"Nice headband you've got there."

**( line break, teehee )**

What? I didn't say we were going to go directly into the matches, now did I? Ufufufu~~

Next chapter jumps a little into the two managers, and of course, them matches.

_Sensei_ = teacher

_Senpai_ = senior

_Shitsureshimashita_ = Excuse me, or something of that like

_Masaka_ = Could it be / can be it, etc


	4. Chapter 2: Doubles 2 with some Rikkai

Kikumaru Eiji knew, from the moment he heard Ryuuzaki-_sensei_'s words, that Oishi would not be able to make it for the tournament. When Tezuka's phone rang, he knew that something came up that caused Oishi to be unable to play, and Momoshiro would take his doubles partner's place.

Yeah, Eiji was awesome like that.

…Well. More like he's close enough to Oishi to be able to tell these things.

He would not lie. He was _worried_ about his collaboration with Momoshiro – not that he had anything _against_ him, all Eiji had to do was think about the doubles combination that was Echizen-Momoshiro and… yeah.

As a doubles player, Eiji had nightmares about it.

But when Momoshiro showed up with Oishi's jersey in his hand, Eiji could not help but yell at his junior to hurry up with a smile on his face. Seeing the fire in his eyes when _ochibi_ passed him a racquet and told Momoshiro to 'give them hell' made him more assured.

They would win against Hyotei. For Oishi, Eiji thinks strongly. He exchanged a high-five with his junior who smiled so confidently that Eiji could not help but feel that bit more confident as well, and after Tezuka's pep talk, their match was announced.

"_The match between Seishun Gakuen and Hyotei Gakuen will now begin!_ _First match. Members of doubles two please enter the court_."

**( line breeeeaaaaakkkkkkk )**

Miyuki pouted. The female team ended their games _really slowly_. The redhead, despite being a defensive player by nature, was far too used to playing against males and _that_ made her end her singles match fast (not that she played her game yet – they just begun with doubles two).

Her 'fast' is 'faster than the usual time taken for middle school female games' fast. Miyuki was right in thinking she set a new record… for the female side, at least.

The bored child-in-a-teenager's-body looked around innocently from her spot near the coach's bench. The rest of the team, already used to her antics despite her spending more time with the male team, merely laughed (some patted her head), but let her be (the only person from the female team who could handle her was playing the doubles game right at that moment, and really, the stoic _buchou_ of the male team was needed to calm her down).

Once again, Miyuki pouted. "I wonder how the others are fairing…" she murmured to herself, shutting herself up immediately when she saw a familiar school uniform walk by the courts, apparently deep in conversation on a handphone.

…well, she's more used to seeing the male version of it, but it was still familiar nonetheless. The redhead found herself wondering who the teenager she saw was when said teenager stopped walking and leaned against the railings around the court to continue her conversation.

Silently, she nudged her fellow team mate. "Who that?" Miyuki asked, her trademark childish sentence structure making her senior giggle. Said senior took a look at whom Miyuki was pointing to and allowed an 'ah' of recognition to slip past her lips.

"That's the manager of Rikkaidai's male tennis team, Takeuchi Rei," the senior answered. "I don't know much about her, but I heard from Kawamura-_kun_ that she's in the same karate _dojo_ as he is."

"_Sou na no_?" Miyuki responded automatically, and her senior laughed.

"Ah, about Takeuchi… my cousin said she's nicknamed '_arashi no tsubame_'," a different senior piped in cherrily. "I went to a few of his matches to support him, and I saw a match she was in. I didn't think _half_ the moves she pulled off was actually possible – and she _won_ against an _instructor_ when the exhibition match came about. Those are _never_ choreographed."

"What, really?" came another senior. "I heard she was good, but nothing about her being _that_ good!"

"But… what about her tennis ability?" yet another senior asked, curious. "I've always only heard people talk about her fighting abilities, but never her tennis skills. She _has _to have something unique for _Rikkai_'s male tennis team to have her as their manager."

Accepting the pocky a friendly senior gave her, Miyuki nibbled on it silently as she heard her seniors chatter about the now-identified manager of Rikkaidai's tennis team. She glanced up at the female teen wearing Rikkaidai's female school uniform, whom appeared to be frustrated as she finally ended the call she was in and stared at the innocent phone in her hands balefully.

'…did she just mouth _I hate you_ at her phone in English?' Miyuki wondered silently as she watched the other manager walk away, presumably back to the court Rikkaidai was having their match.

'Between her and _shishou_, who would win in a match?' the redhead thought suddenly, thinking of her _kendo_ instructor.

**( liiiiiineeeee hehehehehe )**

Momoshiro knew, from the moment his bespectacled opponent hit the ball away from where he _knew_ the _Kansai-ben_ speaking teenager initially wanted to hit, that he was trouble. The flippy dude was troublesome as heck, too, sealing off Eiji-_senpai_'s acrobatic play with his own.

What made it more worrying for the second year, though, was his _senpai_'s state of mind. When Hyotei had taken the first game, Momoshiro sensed that his senior's confidence had started to waver.

It totally did not help that they lost the subsequent games, either.

By the time the game count was 4-0 with Hyotei in the lead, Momoshiro knew he _had_ to do something.

"This isn't good… they're too strong," the acrobatic player of Seigaku muttered. Then, as though suddenly struck by a strong memory, the _senpai_ he was worried about in midst of the match made a comeback, diving for the ball that would have decided the game point. Momoshiro was further relieved when the ball returned by the flippy dude of Hyotei was returned again by his once-despondent senior and scored them their first point in the entire match.

It was before his relieved gaze that his senior did his racquet-spining thing around his wrist and looked far more confident than before. "Eiji-_senpai_," he called as he moved forward to meet the other.

"I'm fine, Momo," the cherry senior replied without turning around, his tone serious. "Don't give up!" he continued, slowly turning around to face him. "If we don't give up, we'll definitely find the opponents' weakness. The opportunity will appear."

Slowly, before Momoshiro's gaze, Eiji-_senpai_ lifted his racquet, his expression as serious as his tone. "We must believe… in our own strength!"

And then, of course, the cherry senior winked at him and grinned. "How's that?" he asked. "Oishi once told me the exact same thing."

Unable to help himself, Momoshiro burst out laughing. "Eiji-_senpai_, you portrayed him well!" he exclaimed, chuckling. "It's time to turn this game around! It just started!"

The makeshift doubles pair exchanged grins of agreement, and it was then Momoshiro decided to speak. "…by the way, I did receive a message from Oishi-_senpai_."

**( tro-lo-lo-lo-lol )**

Rei glared at the phone in her hands before she sighed, giving up with the glaring. She would not deny that she was annoyed, though – she'd have thought that her _shishou_ had stopped with registering her for competitions when she told him she could not make it.

"Ah… this sucks…" she complained under her breath. "I won't be able to observe the Kantou finals if my name can't be pulled out…" Rei paused in thought. "…nope. Not a single chance in hell it'll happen."

"Oi, Takeuchi. Girls shouldn't curse," came the input from the resident trickster of Rikkaidai. The silver-haired teen casually slung an arm around the younger, poking her cheek. "What made you so pissy?"

"Niiou-_senpai_…" she muttered, attempting to push his arm off before giving up without much of a fight. "I'll tell everyone when we visit _buchou_ later. Doubles one is done?"

"I wouldn't be talking to you now if it wasn't, now would I?' Niou retorted, and the younger teen rolled her eyes. "Aka-_chan_ is playing now. You're having fun shoving him into singles three and making him play with heavier power wrists, huh?"

Despite her mood, Rei grinned. "He wanted more power in his Knuckle Serve. I'm giving it to him. 'Sides," she shrugged, "it's not like his set is the heaviest in the team."

Niou grinned back. "True that," he concurred, removing his arm from her shoulders and Rei whacked his arm lightly, mock-pouting when he easily avoided it, and Niou patted her head in a manner an older brother would to his younger sibling. The sibling-like interaction between the two continued as they returned to the court Rikkaidai was at.

As they were walking, Rei could not help but take notice of the Seigaku versus Hyotei match. 'Australian formation?' she thought to herself even as she kept up with Niou's pace. The manager of Rikkaidai smiled. 'This should prove interesting if we meet in the finals.'

"Takeuchi, _doko ni miteru ze yo_?" Niou asked when he realized her attention was elsewhere. "_Ore wa koko jyaki_."

Rei laughed. "_Hai, hai_," she answered as she returned her attention to her brother-like senior. He began bugging her about the potential weakness she found in Yagyuu's technique – which she refused to answer, which then caused Niou to begin his rapid-fire questioning… which she proceeded to ignore. It was routine by now, and Rei could not help but feel part of her bad mood evaporate.

**( wheeee~~ )**

"All right! We started out with a win!"

"This is a big comeback victory!"

Oishii smiled at his partner and at his junior. "Well done, both of you! Nice game," he praised. Momoshiro grinned at him as Eiji stretched his tired limbs.

"Really, Momo, you moved well," Eiji said, smiling as he continued to stretch. "If it was us instead…"

"Yea… we couldn't have won!" he agreed with his partner. The Golden Pair exchanged grins at their junior's confused gaze as Ryuuzaki-_sensei_ made the team hyped up for the next match again.

The vice-captain of Seigaku watched with a quiet smile as Inui and Kaidou got themselves ready for their own doubles match. Seeing (more like hearing) Shishido was a bit of a shock, but he figured that _something _must have happened within Hyotei for him to still be on the regular's team.

Out of the corner of his eye, Oishii caught sight of a yellow jersey and a uniform-clad form moving away from the court they were in. 'Rikkaidai…?' he thought to himself, a little curious as to their presence near their court, but shrugged it off when they continued on their way.

He had a match to watch.

**( oh eff this shiz )**

Imma only translate one phrase I used: _arashi no tsubame_. It's Rei's nickname in the world of martial arts, and it translates to either "Swallow of the Storm" or "Storm's Swallow".

Yes, swallow's don't fly in storms, but this is used to symbolize her speed (cause them swallows are _faaaast_) and her... quite ruthless style of attacking, though, of course, she lacks power due to more focus on speed.

If anyone needs me to translate them other Japanese words I used, lemme know and I'll be happy to help. :3


	5. Chapter 3: The managers meet

In lieu with a reviewer's comment, I'm trying to tone down on my usage of Japanese in the story, though things like _senpai, buchou, fukubuchou, nii-san_, etc will still be used. Some stuff just sounds better that way (really? Inui-senior? XD)

But... yea. Enjoy the chapter? :3

* * *

><p>Inui Sadaharu hid his sigh. Hyotei's second-year regular that partnered with Shishido had a high-speed serve that he had not been able to include in his data yet, giving Hyotei the first game ridiculously fast.<p>

No matter. Seigaku's data man filed that piece of information in a part of his brain to write down later. For the moment, he had to focus (but _damn_, those Hyotei supporters are _loud_).

"With that kind of serve, there was nothing we could have done about the last game," he told his snake-like junior. "Kaidou, next time we will—"

"Nothing else we could have done about the last game?" Kaidou quoted back at him before he could finish his sentence. "What're you talking about, _senpai_?"

Unbidden, the memory of him asking his junior to play doubles with him came to mind.

"_Kaidou, do you want to try playing doubles with me?" Inui had asked while watching the bandana-wearing teen practice to master his new technique._

_The younger had barely spared him a glance before he answered. "I refuse."_

"I don't ever pull back!" Kaidou growled. "First of all…" he said, settling himself into his position near-comfortably while letting out his trademark "_fushuuu_"-sounding breath of air, "we have to shut those guys up."

* * *

><p>Miki pouted. As much as she liked her female team seniors, they were really <em>slow<em> in ending their matches. As it was, they had just finished doubles two, and _she was really bored_.

"Mweee…" she whined softly, and her seniors laughed. The redhead pouted again.

"Miki bored!" she complained, and the captain of the female team laughed, patting her head.

"Why don't you get us some drinks from the vending machine?"

The hyperactive girl perked up. Finally, an activity! "Okay!" Miki chirped and dashed off before anyone could give her a bag to carry the cans in.

("…will she be okay?" a senior wondered. Everyone else shrugged.)

The hyperactive girl in question had rushed to the vending machine and had begun shoving coins down the machine's proverbial throat when she heard a loud 'bang' of human head on something inanimate and a surprised scream of pain. Picking up one of her many collected cans, she approached the crouching in pain person and placed the cold can on the area the man was clutching.

"_Daijoubu_?" she asked, her childish way of speaking extremely prominent.

"Ah, yes, thanks… sorry to trouble you," the man answered, accepting the can and standing up. Miki's eyes widened at the man's height.

"_Twaaalllllll_…" went her awed statement of fact, and the other laughed.

"It can be really troublesome at times," he told her with a slight grumble to his joking tone. "I need to get back to work. Thanks for the…" he paused to look at the can to identify the drink, "sports drink."

Miki nodded and waved at the man (who waved back before walking off) before proceeding to skip back to the vending machine and shoving even more coins down the machine's proverbial throat.

By the time she got to fourteen cans, the redhead had to stop. She squatted beside the cans, wondering how she was going to transport them back to her seniors before she decided to use her jacket.

Lining them neatly on said clothing and grinning happily as she succeeded, Miki wrapped them together (making it look like a bundle from olden times). She then made her way back to her seniors, though halfway through it started to loosen and a can fell out. Acting out of reflex, Miki's leg darted out to cushion the can's fall – much like how a football player balances a ball.

It took her brain a few seconds to process what had occurred, and she whined when she realized she could not move without dropping all her cans. As she was wondering what to do, a Rikkaidai uniform-clad form retrieved the can from her leg, brown eyes looking slightly amused at her predicament.

"What kind of seniors makes their juniors carry this many cans?"

* * *

><p>Right before Rei could make it back to the court Rikkai was at, her phone rang again, much to her bemusement and Niou's amusement. She waved the silver-haired senior back to the court first as she answered the phone call (from her mother this time, checking up on her and telling her that she will "receive a package from India soon").<p>

That normally meant she was getting an extra two months worth of food supply – especially ingredients for curry. As much as she liked spicy food, well…

Here's to hoping her stomach lining survives the onslaught.

A kiddish whine snapped the brunette out of her thoughts, and she made her way to the other side of the vending machine she was standing near. A small, petite redhead was balancing a can on her foot while carrying even more cans in her jacket – that had been turned into a makeshift basket.

Momentarily, Rei wondered if it was rude to ask someone she did not know who she thought she was related to, but decided against it. She saw Kitsuke Takeshi on a daily basis, anyway – she could ask him just as easily.

"What kind of seniors makes their juniors carry this many cans?" Rei wondered in amusement.

"Miki forgwot Miki only got two hands," the younger told her, blinking innocently. Rei blinked back at her, slightly at loss for words at the very innocent confession and the redhead tilted her head at her.

"I'll help you," she told her, "I'm free now, anyway." Without another word, she plucked several cans out of the younger's makeshift basket and the two began walking.

"Miki gwateful~~" went the younger sing-songly. Rei laughed – the girl was too cute.

"So… your name's Miki?"

"Miki's name is Miyuki, Kitsuke Miyuki. Nice to meet yoooouuu~~"

"I'm Takeuchi Rei," she introduced herself, and the redhead blinked.

"Takweeucwi Wei?"

Rei tried not to laugh – even her three-year-old nephew on her father's side could pronounce her name better. "Takeuchi Rei," she repeated calmly, and the redhead blinked again.

"Wei?"

"Rei."

"Weeeiiii?"

"…you really can't pronounce 'r' sounds, huh?"

"Weawwy?"

Rikkai's manager snorted softly in amusement. "And my question has been answered."

"…mweeeeee…" whined the younger, and Rei grinned. At that point, Rei spotted the female Seigaku team, and one she recognized to be the cousin of one of her more memorable opponents in the ring nodded at her in thanks for helping their junior. She nodded back as Miki dashed to her seniors to give them the drinks she had bought before running back to her and taking the remaining cans.

"Miki give Wei one can," the cheerful girl told her, then waving with a cheery "bye bye~" as she returned to her seniors.

Rei waved back and turned to head back to the court Rikkai was at. "Free drink," she commented idly, popping the can open and taking a sip. As she neared the court, though, her self-proclaimed younger brother raced up to her like an excitable puppy.

"Rei!" he cried. "I won! As promised, I ended the match in fifteen minutes!" If she stared hard enough, she could see an excited bushy tail wagging behind him, and Rei swore she saw sparkles. "So as promised, I'll get a free meal, right?"

Rei smiled and patted the messy seaweed-head with a free hand – she was still drinking. "We'll see," she answered calmly, mentally cackling when he pouted at her.

"Eeeh?" Akaya whined. "That's not what you promised!"

"I have to confirm with Yanagi-_senpai_ first, you know. To make sure you fulfilled all the conditions I set."

"But I did! I really did…" whined the baby of the group, pouting.

Rei grinned. "Then let me confirm with Yanagi-_senpai_…"

"I really did! Believe meeeeeeee…!"

Yes, bullying Akaya was _fun_.

(Later, when they all went to have food before visiting Yukimura, Rei replayed the videos Yanagi took for her. She stared at Niou for a moment before asking, with a very confused face: "Niou-_senpai_, was the opponent that weak? Why were you yawning in your match…?")

* * *

><p><strong>OMAKE:<strong>

The Kitsuke household had a bit of an odd ritual every morning. You see, Takeshi would style Miki's hair for her before she goes to school, and vice versa. So one day, as a joke, Takeshi decided to just mess his sister's hair up.

So he did. And what did Miki do?

She just blinked and left the house. Just like that. With an extremely messy head that no one in their right mind would leave the house with.

"Oy, Miki, come back here!" Takeshi yelled, chasing after his sister with a comb and his school bag. Miki pretended to not hear him (or maybe she really didn't hear him..) and continued walking to Seigaku.

Later that night, when the siblings sat down for dinner, Takeshi half-pouted at his sister.

"You know… because of you, I was late for morning practice."

Miki laughed. _Laughed._

Takeshi blinked at her before brandishing his chopsticks at her with mock-menace. "You love to see me in trouble, don't you?"

His younger sister grinned unrepentantly.

* * *

><p>All righty! So, here's to hoping this chapter's to your liking~<p>

Next chapter goes more into Rikkai, and Seigaku would be playing singles by then. *happy face*


	6. Chapter 4: Rikkai's side of the story

Niou Masaharu had always liked their manager from the day their resident seaweed-head had dragged her to a practice session during their first year in Rikkai. She had looked mildly annoyed, he recalled, and not at all like any of the fangirls the tennis team members tended to have.

That was probably the main reason why majority of the regulars took to her so quickly.

"When I agreed to play a match with you, Akaya, I meant during the weekends. Not right after school," the then-unknown girl had said with an exasperated eye-roll.

"You don't have a club anyway," Akaya had told her with a grin. "Beside, _buchou_ gave me the okay! Right, _buchou_?" The kid looked over to their blue-haired captain, who smiled and nodded. Sanada sighed self-sufferingly, and Yanagi was amused, if his widening smile was any indication.

"Akaya has told me a lot about you, Takeuchi," Yukimura told the girl with a smile. "When he mentioned that you both learned tennis at the same time, I wanted to see it for myself."

Takeuchi quirked an eyebrow. "See what? Our skill difference?" she asked. Yukimura chuckled, saying nothing, and there was another exasperated eye-roll from the girl. "I didn't bring my racquet, though." Here, she leveled a glare at the seaweed-head, who stuck his tongue out at her childishly. "_Someone_didn't tell me to."

Niou, always searching for an excuse to slack off, approached them then. "I'll lend you mine," he told her, passing his racquet over. Sanada sent him a glare, but the silver-haired teen paid him no mind. Yukimura looked amused, though something in the captain's eyes told him that he'd be in for it later.

"Hurry up, Rei!" Akaya called, bouncing on the balls of his feet from the other side of the court – when the heck did the kid get there? Takeuchi let out a soft growl as she loosened the bow that came with the female uniform, taking the racquet from him with a short 'thank you'.

"Interesting, isn't she?" Yukimura asked him even as the two on the court met at the net and decided who to serve quickly. Niou smirked in response.

"_Aa_," he answered, but said nothing else. The rest of the regulars had gathered beside them at this point, and watched as Akaya started the game, serving towards the opposite side of where Takeuchi had been standing.

Jackal let out a low whistle when the girl managed to return the serve. "She has speed, " the half-Brazilian commented, and a general murmur of agreement went through the line of regulars – sans the Three Demons. A glance out of the corner of his eye told him that Yanagi had began collecting data, though the look on Yukimura and Sanada's faces were indecipherable.

Five minutes later, Takeuchi's voice rang clearly through the stunned, silent court. "Game, Takeuchi. One game to love."

"That was fast," Yukimura muttered. "To think Akaya lost his service game so quickly against her…"

"It would be interesting to play a match against her," Yagyuu commented idly. On the court, another rally had begun between the two. It was after Takeuchi had claimed her next two game points that Niou found that he could come to like his junior.

Prior to gaining her point, Akaya had used his Knuckle Serve against her. The ball had curved dangerously towards her throat, but Takeuchi had, very calmly, knelt down and somehow returned the ball. When she straightened up, she _grinned._

"That was weak," she had told him. "I told you: your Knuckle Serve isn't done that way. Watch."

Right after she said that, Takeuchi hit _the_ _Knuckle Serve_. It zoomed over the net and, had Akaya not dodge, it would have hit his head. _Hard_. As it was, the ball bounced off the court viciously and gotten stuck in the fencing surrounding the court.

"_That_," she announced, her tone smug, "is how you do it."

Niou whistled, as did Marui and Jackal. On court, Akaya lifted his hands in a "I surrender" manner. Yukimura's smile grew, and Yanagi patted a somewhat displeased Sanada on the shoulder.

"Better luck next time, Genichirou," the data master said, and Niou quirked an eyebrow at him. Yanagi did not respond to him, though, instead smiling in a manner that had Niou wondering what ideas had been brewing in Yukimura's mind.

"That was amazing," Yukimura praised, and Takeuchi, looking surprised, bowed in thanks before returning him his racquet. Niou accepted it and swung it around, and the female looked sheepish.

"Um, _senpai_, you might want to go restring your racquet," she said. "I might or might not have made the string nearly break with that Knuckle Serve. Your racquet is really overdue for new strings, though."

Niou chuckled. "What, no 'thank you for lending me your racquet'?" he joked, and the girl grinned, having caught onto his tone.

"Not at all," she agreed, "but here is an insincere one. Thank you." She did a bow with flourish, and the trickster laughed. Yukimura, his smile already huge, smiled _wider_.

"And with that, Takeuchi," he said, catching the female's attention, "I'd like for you to be the tennis team's manager."

Thinking of her reaction to that made him chuckle into his drink, and Rei looked at him curiously. "Niou-_senpai_?" she asked, blinking. He sniggered, but shook his head. Beside him, Yagyuu spared him an amused smile.

"Niou-_kun_ was likely thinking of the day Yukimura-_kun _asked you to be our manager." The bespectacled teen read his mind. Niou swore it.

Rei blinked again. "I…see," she muttered, pulling an odd face as she returned to her food. Sanada had already finished and was calmly sipping his green tea, though he did flash Niou a bemused glance. The trickster saluted the cap-wearing vice-captain.

'Who would've thought,' Niou thought to himself, amused, 'the one who was most against having a manager is the one depending on the manager the most.'

* * *

><p>Even if one dared to ask, Sanada Genichirou would probably not admit that he was depending on their brown-eyed manager after Yukimura's hospitalization. Well, unless you happened to be Yukimura Seiichi.<p>

But as it is… no, Sanada would not admit to being dependent on Takeuchi Rei's constant presence by the tennis courts in Rikkaidai after the blue-haired teen's collapse. The brunette did not seem to care, taking charge of the both regulars and non-regulars training so easily it surprised him.

"It's unfortunate, but year ones, please be on ball duty," she had announced the day after Yukimura's hospitalization – Sanada still felt like his world's foundations had broken. "All non-regulars, please follow this training scheme that has been drawn up, or face my wrath."

When someone made a sound of protest, all Sanada did was blink and she was already in the poor year two student's face. "So sorry, care to repeat that to my face?" she asked sweetly, and her smile had scared them into starting the laps faster than his yelling had.

"I don't need your help," he told her after the day's practice had ended as they both sat on the bench, and she smiled at him.

"I know," she answered simply, tucking her folder into her bag. "The one I'm helping here is Yukimura-_buchou_. For Rikkai's third consecutive win." Takeuchi dared a smirk and took hold of his cap, abandoned on his side. "My method gets more training in, though. It saved your throat, too. You haven't touched your stash of lozenges at all today."

Belatedly, Sanada realized she spoke the truth. As he struggled to find words to say, the junior stood and replaced his cap on his head. "Hang in there, _fukubuchou_," she told him with a grin. "_Buchou_'s depending on you for the third consecutive win, too."

It was after that Sanada found himself slowly accepting the female's near-constant presence on the court – if not overseeing the non-regulars, she'd be dealing with the (rather troublesome) regulars, who often made her play against them. There were times that she came limping or with bandaged limbs, and when Sanada confronted her about it, Takeuchi had grinned.

"Can't let you face them idiots alone, now can I?" she stated more than asked – her reputation in the world of martial arts was well-known in Rikkai by then. Sanada found himself a little peeved at her answer, and managed to extract a promise from her that she would not join the training regime she had set for them whenever she came with an injury.

"_Fukubuchou_, we're ready to leave!" Akaya's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he nodded mutely. As one, they stood from the table they occupied and headed in the direction of the hospital Yukimura was in.

* * *

><p>It was with surprised happiness that Yukimura greeted his team as they walked through the door of his hospital room. Setting aside a book on art techniques his mother had gotten him before she and his younger sister left not even half an hour ago, Yukimura smiled.<p>

"I didn't expect any of you until later," he said. As was normal by then, Rei took the seat beside his bed, Akaya settled himself comfortably by the foot of his bed, Masaharu stood a little stand-offish by the window, Renji and Hiroshi stood near Akaya, Bunta moved about the room, Jackal stood at the edge of the bed, and Genichirou was across the bed from Rei.

"Our matches ended quickly, so we came," Renji told him. Rei pulled out her video camera then.

"Yanagi-_senpai_helped record the matches. I had phone calls to answer," she told him, passing the device to him. Her frown did not go unnoticed, but Yukimura left that matter for later. Akaya was already bouncing on his bed from excitement, urging him to watch the matches.

About an hour later, with all the matches view and relevant praises and criticism given, Yukimura cleared his throat. "Everyone, I have an announcement to make."

All eyes were on him – though Masaharu was looking at him from the corner of his eye. The blue-haired captain took a breath. "The decision has been made. I will be undergoing the surgery."

Rei grinned. "Glad you made that decision, _buchou_," she said – a sentiment that was echoed by the rest of the team. "When's your surgery?"

"The arrangement was… for the last day of Kantou. The 27th."

There was a moment of silence. At least, until Rei groaned, stood up and proceeded to the nearest wall in what-looked-like an attempt to bash her head in. Unfortunately for her and fortunately for the rest of the team, the wall she chose was right beside Masaharu, and the trickster quickly pulled her back via her ponytail.

"…is something wrong with that arrangement, Takeuchi?" Genichirou voiced everyone's confusion. Rei's answering smile was strained.

"No, not at all," she said, taking in a deep breath. "Good luck guys. You're on your own for finals."

Only Masaharu seemed to have an inkling of what she was talking about. "Ah. That phone call that got you all pissy?"

Rei leveled the silver-haired teen a glare, but sighed and nodded. "My _shishou _called me while doubles one was on. I'm expected to be around Yamabuki's area on that day for a competition." She laughed dryly. "What a busy day for us, huh."

Yukimura frowned, noticing the signs of stress within the manager. Akaya, too, realized and quickly jumped off the bed, forcing his childhood friend back onto the chair she had vacated – the blue-haired captain gave him a grateful smile, and the seaweed-head grinned back.

"It's okay, Rei," he said into the silence that had took over his hospital room. "Nothing will be able to stop us. You-" he pointed at her "-will win your competition. They-" he gestured at the rest of the team "-will win Kantou. And I-" he placed a hand on his chest "-will go through my surgery safely."

Yukimura smiled, his first confident smile ever since he had gotten hospitalized. "_Warera Ouja Rikkai…shikaku wa nai_."

* * *

><p>No omake this chapter, but there should be one in the next. Rikkai's POVs were oddly fun to write, too.<p>

I know I promised to not use too much Japanese phrases, but that was too good to pass out. XD

Yukimura's phrase translates to "We of King Rikkai have no weaknesses".

Um. I love reviews?


	7. Chapter 5: End of Hyotei vs Seigaku

My apologies for the late chapter. I had some trouble churning this one out, but it's finally here! Yay!

* * *

><p>They had continued sitting around the blue-haired teen's hospital room for quite a while, Rei realized. She took a look at the time amidst the chatter that went on between the regulars of Rikkai's tennis club before she commented idly, "Singles 1 between Hyotei and Seigaku should start soon, shouldn't it?"<p>

_That _caught Akaya's attention - he perked up like a puppy that had a treat in front of him. "Really?" he asked, the epitome of excited. The brunette checked the time with mocking casualness before she nodded, and watched in amusement as one very hyper seaweed-head turned to the cap-wearing vice captain with huge, pleading eyes.

"_Fukubuchou_, can we go watch the match pleasepleasepleaseplease_please_?"

Yukimura stifled a laugh, as did Yagyuu and Yanagi. Marui had no such reservations, laughing away while Niou allowed an amused smirk to form on his face. Jackal hid his amusement behind a sigh. Sanada, on the other hand, was the epitome of self-suffering, and Rei had laughed at the _fukubuchou_'s expense.

"Takeuchi," he voiced, and Rei snapped a mock-salute. "Did you plan for any extra training for today?"

The brown-eyed teen thought about it for a moment, her mind immediately drawing up the matches she had watched before she shook her head. "There was nothing that couldn't wait until our next training session," she told him, and Yukimura chuckled.

"Then I will butt in here and decree it a rest day," he said, and Rei watched Niou grin from the corner of her eye - he really liked slacking off, didn't he? "This doesn't mean you can be lazy, like I'm sure Niou over there is already planning to be." The silver-haired teen mimed being hurt, and the rest of them laughed at that. Their currently-frail captain smiled. "Relax your muscles today, and when the next set of training and matches comes around, remember to not over-strain yourselves," Yukimura lectured. There was a chorus of amused agreement, and Rei smirked at him.

"Of course, _buchou_," she said, and he blinked back at her. "You just said it yourself. We have no weaknesses."

As one, she and the team she managed smiled or smirked at their bedridden captain. "We are Rikkai."

* * *

><p>The rest of the team had decided to go with Yukimura's words and rest up for the next day, which left Rei heading back to the tournament grounds with the vice, their resident data man, and a very hyper Akaya. When Sanada asked, Rei swore she didn't give him sugar... and crossed her fingers behind her back. Yanagi had given her an amused look, and Rei had grinned back at him unrepentantly.<p>

It was _so_ not her fault the cap-wearing _fukubuchou _was fun to bully.

Upon their arrival, they were greeted with _extremely loud _cheers of how Hyotei will win and Seigaku will not. Rei had winced, bringing her hands up to protect her overly-sensitive ears - Marui had always laughed at her whenever they went to the arcade for DDR, 'cause she'd have a set of headphones on while they played.

"That's an impressive gallery and cheering squad even though it's not the Nationals. Right, Sanada-_fukubuchou_," Akaya voiced, looking rather bemused - Rei figured he was wondering how much bigger the peanut gallery would be during Nationals.

"As expected from Atobe," was all the cap-wearing teen would say on the matter, and they settled in the spectators' seats to watch the ensuing match.

The match had started smoothly - Akaya had began bouncing in his seat slightly in excitement, and Rei had smacked him over the head for distracting her. As the puppy-in-human-form calmed down, the brunette trained her eyes on the ongoing match. She had to admit that while Atobe Keigo was strong…

"Be intoxicated with my beautiful skills!"

"…I really don't want to be," she muttered in response, ignoring Sanada's slightly amused glance in her direction. Akaya chuckled as she blanched – the captain of Hyotei was strong, yes, but his rather egoistic attitude made Rei want to put in him an armbar more than once.

Rikkai _had _played practice matches against Hyotei, after all.

But as the match continued, Rei couldn't help her growing feeling of dread – and it has absolutely nothing to do with the peanut gallery over at Hyotei's side, either. Being involved in martial arts since young meant she was capable of spotting weakness in a glance or two – the main thing that gotten her the manager's spot in Rikkai's tennis team, Yukimura-_buchou _had told her, and was similar to Atobe's Insight... to a certain degree.

The fact that she could control the regulars somewhat was a plus in the blue-haired captain's eyes.

Back to the match. Her feeling of dread dug deeper when she heard Atobe announce Tezuka had a prior injury. Watching Tezuka use the Zero Shiki had cause that dread to start stinging, and she quickly excused herself from her two seniors and childhood friend before she couldn't breathe. They had watched her go with confusion, but Rei couldn't bring herself to care.

"His shoulder…" Rei whispered to herself, unconsciously gripping her own shoulder. When she chanced a glance at the ongoing match, her eyes gotten a clear image of the damage going to Seigaku's captain's shoulder and she flinched.

"Rei-_chan_?"

Looking up, she saw familiar brown eyes looking back into her own. "Taka-_senpai_…"

Kawamura Takashi chuckled softly. "Rei-_chan_, you've shot past me in grade, remember?" he said, and he instantly looked worried when he got a proper look at her face. "What's wrong?"

"I should be asking you that," she shot right back, nodding at his bandaged hand. "What happened?"

Takashi chuckled again and gave her an indulgent smile. "I'll tell you about it if you come for sushi later," he said, "_tou-san _has been wanting to see you again. Says his cute 'daughter' needs to visit once in awhile."

Belatedly, Rei realized she hasn't met the elder Kawamura since the last competition she participated in near Seigaku – and the elder had promised her parents to keep an eye on her as well as he could, hence the joking 'daughter' title. "I guess my dinner for tonight's settled," she said, and Takashi laughed.

"But, really, what's wrong with you?" the Seigaku member asked, his concern apparent, and she sighed.

"My eyes," she told him softly, "They're showing me unfavorable images towards your _buchou _there."

"Unfa—" he cut himself off when he processed what she had. "No. _Tezuka_?!"

"You know as well as I do the accuracy of my weakness-catching eyes," she tried to joke, but failed as she clutched at her left shoulder again and shuddered. He tried to comfort her – she had told him before after a karate competition that spotting people's weaknesses so easily bothered her immensely, after all – before the loud cry startled them all.

"_T…Tezuka_!"

The loud cry caught their attention, and the two watched as the Seigaku members on the bench began rushing forward towards their captain. Takashi, too, was about to move before Tezuka yelled at them to stop; that the match was not over. The normally-gentle teen before her clenched his fists but stopped, as had the rest.

"It's over for Seigaku."

"It's impossible for Tezuka to continue."

"It's the end for Seigaku."

"It's best if Tezuka forfeited."

That was the general murmur that ran amongst the spectators, and Takashi shook his head.

"That's not true. It's not over for Seigaku."

Rei heard his whisper, and turned to her once-senior in confusion. "Sorry?"

"The match will continue," he told her, looking far more confident than she had ever seen him. Down in the court, Tezuka proceeded to serve. "Seigaku will not give up without a fight!"

And Rei watched, with slight amusement, as her once-_senpai _in karate took hold of Seigaku's flag and began cheering. Feeling slightly better at the show, Rei rejoined the three Rikkai regular members with her and watched the proceedings.

The match continued as if nothing happened, but she knew better. Beneath Tezuka's poker face, he was in far more pain than anyone could ever imagine - though, if she was frank, she _could _imagine. While she respected his ability continue the match as though the pain meant nothing, Rei thought he was a little suicidal. She had not been lying when she said 'unfavorable images'.

'_If he keeps this up, he'll lose his arm for real..._'

Then a flash of red shot past them, and Rei thought that Marui-_senpai _had appeared for a moment before her eyes refocused and she noted who, exactly, flipped over to Seigaku's bench.

Kitsuke Miyuki.

"Is she Seigaku's manager?" The brunette paused. "If she is, how does she manage them…?"

"_Buchou_, come here!" came the loud, childish slur that was the redhead's, and Rei 'ah'-d in understanding when she saw the pout.

"I see," she muttered. "The _imotou _approach."

Beside her, Yanagi gave her an extremely amused glance, though Sanada and Akaya did not appear to understand her mumbling.

* * *

><p>Miyuki had just started her singles match when the news came - Tezuka Kunimitsu was suffering an injury. The redhead felt her worry for the captain intensify when someone reported he was still playing, and she flew through her match, ending it ridiculously fast and rushing off towards the male team before anyone could say anything.<p>

She thought she saw her _kendo _instructor and the now-acquainted manager of Rikkai, but forgone that thought in favor of checking on the stubborn captain of Seigaku. Fuji allowed her to get to the coach's bench amongst the mayhem the regulars caused to get to him.

Of course it figured that the poker-faced captain was back in the court by the time she got there. Pouting, the redhead took a breath and...

"_Buchou_, come here!"

A pregnant pause settled over the court, and the redhead watched as the stoic captain turned to her. His normally impassive expression had hints of shock in it, and Miyuki found that she could not bring herself to care. True, she was a bit of an airhead at times and was generally gentle when no one made her go into one of her moods, but _he was injured_. Why was he still playing again?

(Over at Hyotei's side of the stand, their resident blue-haired, bespectacled genius allowed a low whistle to escape from his throat. Atobe, on the other hand, looked annoyed at having his match interrupted. At the same time, he could not help but wonder - that redhead female looked familiar. Where had he seen her before?)

The stoic captain looked momentarily stunned at Miyuki's yell. The manager for Seigaku could tell her was debating whether or not he should return, or suffer the consequences of not returning (a.k.a crying). "Referee, time out."

"...it worked." That was Momo-_senpai_. He sounded amazed.

Miyuki, for her part, merely waited for the captain to sit on the coach's bench. She was grinning - happy that Tezuka-_buchou_ actually _listened _to her for once. Their mother-henning vice captain fussed over the stoic teen for a moment before he turned to her.

"He's all yours, Miyuki," he said. The concern in his tone was unmistakable, and the redhead saluted with a happy grin.

"Leave it to Miki," she responded. Her experience with first aid outshined Ryuuzaki-_sensei_, and the coach declared her to be in-charge of anything medical related. Miyuki decided she liked being the team's medic - especially since it meant she could pretend to want to cry and they will obey immediately.

Yes, she was a _yan _that way.

* * *

><p>Much to Miyuki's displeasure, the stubborn (and sometimes idiotic) captain decided to continue playing despite the fact she pouted and whined and generally acted like a kid for him to not play. It was not like Ryoma could not hold his own for the tie-breaker match.<p>

That said, though, she knew perfectly well she cannot stop the stubborn captain. Miyuki did not know _why _he wanted to continue - was he just plain stubborn, or was he keeping a promise to someone? Maybe it was the sportsman in him that wanted to go through the entire match, or maybe he was trying to show the team something.

Whichever it was, the fact that Seigaku's stern captain was losing did not change. It was still one of the best matches she had ever seen so far, though, and her respect for the poker-faced captain rose to a whole new level.

Even though she did not like the fact that Tezuka-_buchou_ lost in his match... '_Serves him right for not listening to me_,' she thought viciously, pouting.

Fuji-_senpai _chuckled and patted her head. "It's okay," he said, his voice gentle as always. "We get to watch Echizen play thanks to that, right?"

"We'll get to see Ryoma play either way," she shot back, still pouting. The elder teen laughed.

"_Hai, hai_," he agreed amicably, and Miyuki pouted before the referee calling the score had her attention back on the match. She was certain Ryoma would win, but _something_ told her his opponent had a..._different _playing style.

She could _not _wait to see it.

* * *

><p>"He's slacking," Sanada said after the results of the Tezuka-Atobe match came about, and Rei had to face-palm. No, <em>fukubuchou<em>, Tezuka-_san_ did _not_ slack off. In fact, from what she could tell, he worked the hardest in Seigaku (second only to Taka-_senpai_, 'cause Taka-_senpai_ had serious problems with controlling his power before) - and really, the slacker was Niou. _No one _slacks off more than the silver-haired teen.

"I guess Sanada-_fukubuchou _really wanted to be the one to beat him, huh..." Akaya muttered, and Yanagi quickly shushed him, though he looked amused - the data master has been pretty amused today. Rei wondered why.

"That's Hyotei's Hiyoshi," Yanagi said instead, changing the topic. "He was the one in the newcomer's battle who did fairly well against you, right?"

"Was that really so?" went Akaya candidly. He was probably content after watching an epic match.

Sanada scoffed. "Pretending like you don't know..." he said. "Next year, the one to lead Hyotei's squad is most definitely him." He glanced over into the court, expression stern. "The coach from Hyotei had an incredible trump card hidden up his sleeve."

Rei took in the commentary without comment. '_Hiyoshi Wakashi_,' she thought to herself. She had joined his family's _dojo_ roughly a year ago, but their style of martial arts clashed too much with karate's style that she did not do well in group classes. The instructor - Hiyoshi's father - had been intrigued by her apparent lack of skill with their style (she _really _had too much of a presence in the martial arts community) that he offered her one-on-one lessons. Those went ridiculously well, and Rei was soon able to switch fighting styles easily.

Of course, the fact that she could now easily switch her fighting style easily was thanks to those one-on-one lessons, and Hiyoshi's father prided himself for that ability of hers. The brunette never denied it when asked; in fact, she confirmed it, and that had made Hiyoshi look at her with that much more respect.

'..._I wonder if he's still obsessed with his _'Gekokujou',' Rei found herself wondering as she watched the match between him and the rumored-freshman of Seigaku go at it. Akaya snickered slightly to himself as he watched the match.

"Something funny about this, Aka-_chan_?"

Her childhood friend tried to glare at her - though it looked more like a pout. "Stop calling me that!" he said before he shrugged and answered her question. "Eh, nope. But that Seigaku _chibi_'s pretty good."

Rei stared at him blankly before she nodded. "If you say so," she allowed, and he grinned at her.

"It's _gekokujou_."

Ah. There it is. So he _was_ still obsessed with his 'weak overcome the strong' thing. The manager of Rikkai watched the proceedings with mild amusement - even more so when Seigaku's player switched to his left hand. '_Even more interesting_.'

It evolved into a really fast-paced match from there, with neither side letting up. Games were called as quickly as they started. "It really feels like this is the battle that will lead into the next generation," Sanada commented after a long silence of simply observing. "Neither are thinking of bringing down the pace, instead using their techniques in a high-paced match."

Yanagi nodded, smiling minutely. "It feels good watching them."

Akaya chose that moment to be comic relief once again. "...can you really see?" Rei hid her grin behind clasped hands, choosing not to comment as the younger teen whined about the bump on his head.

'_Still... that freshman_,' she thought, observing the match once again. '_Keeping up that pace... it's either he's trying to find a new limit to break, or he's highly strung up, for whatever reason_.' When he dropped his cap and declared he could still go another hundred games, Rei shook her head, amused. '_It's the latter reason_.'

When the game was decided (6-4 in Seigaku's favor), Yanagi, who offered to keep track of progress throughout the tournament to free her hands a little, marked Seigaku's victory for their own record. "Akaya," the data man said after a while, "that Seigaku freshman had the same single foot split-step as you."

Akaya chuckled darkly. "He... needs to be crushed, doesn't he?"

Rei observed his eyes for a moment before grabbing the clipboard Yanagi held and smacked Akaya with it. "Too early to be excited," she told him, and he whined at her.

"But _Reeeeeeiiiii_!"

"No," she repeated firmly, and he shrunk like a dejected puppy. Sanada looked like he was trying to hide a smile, what with how his lips were twitching at the corners, and Yanagi chuckled.

"There you are, Rei-_chan_!"

Rei turned and grinned, though the Rikkai members with her looked confused. "Taka-_senpai_!" Her once-senior in karate chuckled at her, and Akaya let out a sound of remembrance - the seaweed-head _had_ met the elder teen before (much thanks to her competitions); his memory just _sucked_.

"You're not eating dinner with me, right?" Akaya asked, and she nodded without turning, content with examining the closed-eyed, smiling teen with Takashi. "Kay then. See you tomorrow."

Rei did not have to turn to see Akaya happily pushing the vice-captain and data master of Rikkai away to head home. "Sushi?" she said instead, and the elder teen laughed.

"Sushi," he agreed, and turned to the other with him. "You don't mind, do you, Fuji?"

The now-identified teen chuckled and shook his head. Taka-_senpai_ laughed. "Let's go then," he said as he led the way. "_Oyaji_ will be glad to see you again, Rei-_chan_."

The brunette grinned. "Can I call him '_oyaji_' too?" she wondered. "He _did_give me the mock-title of 'daughter', after all."

"I would love to see that," Fuji said from beside her, and Rei grinned.


	8. Chapter 6: A little break

Right, so here's the next chapter. The delay was mostly because... well. It's a filler chapter. I no like writing filler chapters. Noooope.

But eh. Enjoy?

* * *

><p>Takeuchi Rei was an interesting girl, Fuji Syuusuke thought to himself as they walked to their destination. She and Taka-san bantered easily despite the taller teen's shyness when not holding a racquet, and it looked rather obvious to him that said teen viewed the younger to be something akin to a sibling.<p>

She actually yelled "I'm back, _oyaji_" at the same time as Taka-_san_, and that made things more amusing for a brief moment. Kawamura senior had looked shocked, then surprised, and then he pretended to be angry - to which Takeuchi merely laughed at before she gave him a hug. The elder chuckled as he ruffled the brunette's hair, and she grinned before she plopped down onto one of the available seats at the counter.

"Oh, Fuji-_kun_," the sushi chef greeted as Taka-_san_went to change to help his father. "Wasabi sushi again today?"

"If you don't mind," he confirmed and chuckled when Takeuchi pulled a face as he took a seat beside her. "You should try it," Fuji told her, "it's good."

"I'd rather eat the spiciest herb in the world, thank you," she shot back easily. "At least I know I can deal with that."

"You eat spicy food?" he asked, surprised. Not many people he knew would eat the type of food he ate on a normal basis. The brunette nodded, happily accepting the unagi sushi from the elder Kawamura and setting it down before her.

"It's good," Takeuchi said before eying his plate of wasabi sushi warily. "Are you sure that's edible...?"

"All of us at Seigaku have doubts over Fuji's taste buds," Taka-san told her as he joined his father behind the counter, and Fuji shot him a mock-hurt look. "Fuji, you drink Inui's juice like they're water!"

Takeuchi looked a little confused. "I don't think I want to know..." she muttered, snapping her chopsticks with practiced ease. Taka-_san_chuckled and brought her into a conversation over what she had been doing in Rikkaidai, and Fuji was surprised to find out she was the male tennis team's manager. He voiced as much, and the brunette grinned.

"Well, they would probably call me 'training coach from hell' more than 'manager', though," she told him with a sinister-sounding chuckle, and the smiley teen found himself wanting to visit Rikkaidai one day - just to see how they train.

Fuji allowed himself to fade to the background as the two brunettes talked, content with listening and observing their interactions. Taka-_san_had asked Takeuchi something rather martial arts-related, and the younger brunette had nodded and agreed to whatever he had asked. Then the elder brunette had an uncharacteristically cheeky look cross his features.

"Na, Rei-_chan_, what was the title they gave you again?" he said, and Fuji watched with mild concern when said girl choked on her tea. Absentmindedly, he patted the younger teen's back and shot his fellow teammate an enquiring look.

"_Arashi no Tsubame_," Takeuchi answered, coughing lightly, and he saw Taka-_san_'s grin grow. What did knowing Takeuchi's title have anything to do with-

'Ah,' Fuji thought, 'so _that's_what it is.'

"Funny," he decided to add in with mock-thoughtfulness. "One of my techniques is called _Tsubame Gaeshi_."

This time, Taka-_san_was laughing even though Takeuchi was glaring at him. He could not help his own chuckles, and Takeuchi sent him a somewhat pout-ish look. "Sure, laugh it up," she grumbled rather good-naturedly despite her expression saying otherwise. "See who gets the last laugh when it's an official competition."

His and Kawamura junior's phones went off at the same time, and Takeuchi shot them bemused smiles before she returned to her sushi, eating and chatting idly with Kawamura senior. Fuji and his teammate pulled their phones out, and he chuckled merrily at the sudden flood of emoticons in the mail he opened. Miyuki really loved emoticons.

"Looks like Tezuka's okay," Taka-san told the younger teen, and Fuji was surprised when she sighed in relief. The taller teen reached over and ruffled her hair with a smile. "Looks like you can rest easier tonight."

Takeuchi pouted slightly, smoothing her hair out. "...not my fault," she said, and though he was confused, Fuji allowed whatever inside reference it was to slide. He would ask if and when he was closer to the Rikkaidai manager.

Out of curiosity, Fuji had shown Takeuchi the mail Miyuki sent, and was amused that she could not understand it. Whatever the hyper Seigaku manager wanted to tell them via mail, it would be communicated via emoticons. When he told her that Miyuki wrote messages like that all the time, she grinned and asked if she could use his phone to send the hyper redhead a mail. Apparently she met the younger earlier today.

Taka-_san_had looked so amused at her grin that Fuji agreed, and she allowed him to read over her shoulder as she typed out the message she was going to send to her fellow manager. The smiley teen found himself chuckling as he read it - it was a rather worship-like message (something along the lines of "teach me, master!"), alongside Takeuchi's own mail address and phone number.

Fuji could picture Miyuki's face in his mind's eye. It was rather funny.

Less than a minute after that particular mail was sent, Takeuchi's phone rang. Grinning at the lack of customers in the shop at that moment, the brunette answered it and placed it on loudspeaker for their listening pleasure.

"_...who this?_"

Still grinning, Takeuchi faked an extremely hurt gasp. "How could you forget me!" she cried, and Taka-san tried not to laugh. "I was the Rikkaidai student-manager-person who helped you with your drinks earlier because you forgot you had two hands!"

Fuji clapped a hand over his mouth to smother his chuckles. That sounded like the hyper redhead, all right. _Only_Miyuki would forget she had two hands. Takeuchi continued her 'complaining' with a grin, and Fuji counted down the seconds until Miyuki's usual reaction would appear.

"_Miki sowwyyyyyyy...!_" There it is. "_Miki sowwy, Wei-chaaaaaan!_"

Takeuchi mock-pouted. "Oh, now you choose to remember me?"

"_Miki sowwwwwyyyyy Weeeeei-chaaaaaaaan...!_"

The brunette sniggered, then turned to a chuckling Taka-_san_ and him. "I think I made your junior cry. I'm sorry," she said, though she did not look sorry at all. Taka-_san_burst into laughter at that, and Fuji himself chuckled. Miyuki's reactions were always funny, though Takeuchi's unrepentant smile made the situation funnier.

"_Kitsuke. We're in a bus. Calm down._"

"_Miki sowwy!_"

As if sensing the change in Miyuki's demeanour, Takeuchi laughed softly and cancelled loudspeaker, speaking to the teen normally now that the joke's up. She had moved out of the shop to converse with their hyper child of a manager, and Fuji could not help but laugh.

"Takeuchi's really an interesting girl," he said to his friend, and Taka-san chuckled.

* * *

><p>"Fuji-san's an interesting person,' Rei thought to herself as she booted her laptop. Due to the time, the smiley teen had looked a little worried when they parted ways from Taka-<em>senpai<em>'s house-shop to head to their respective homes, but Taka-_senpai_joining the 'assurance bandwagon' helped her case.

Of course, it was probably good thinking on the normally-shy teen's part that he left out one minor (or major, depending on one's point of view) fact - she lived alone. Rei already had a full team of Rikkaidai tennis players and a stray baseball player that worries for her, thank you very much.

Once the machine started up, the brunette quickly opened up a document to start typing in all her observations from the matches played; what could be improved, what tactics needed work, who needed more weights (insert grin here), so on so forth. While most of the team thought it was an amazing ability for her to have, being able to remember her observations and not forget them for a long period of time, but despite Akaya's beliefs, she did _not_have a supercomputer for a brain.

Her handphone ringing distracted her, and she picked it up without looking at the caller ID. "Takeuchi speaking," she said, adjusting her position so the device was sandwiched between her shoulder and ear, leaving her hands free to continue typing. There was a warm chuckle, and Rei blinked.

"_So my guess was right. You haven't slept yet._"

"...Yukimura-_buchou_?" The caller was enough to make her pause in her typing. "How're you calling me from the hospital...?"

"_The nurse was kind enough to plug a phone in my room for a while._"

"Right," she deadpanned in response. "More like your ridiculous charm got to the poor nurse, too. Like how it got Sanada-fukubuchou."

The blue-haired captain chuckled again. "_Maybe_," he allowed. "_Though something has to be wrong somewhere if the person in the hospital is calling the person _not_ in the hospital to check if said person sleeping, don't you think?_"

Rei groaned. "I get it, I get it. I'll go sleep once I'm done with my observations from Niou-_senpai_'s match." Pause. "Wait, what time is it?"

That made him pause. "_Rei, it's one in the morning_," he answered patiently. "_And before you accuse me of not sleeping, sleeping is _all_ I did today after you all left._"

It was one. One. A.M. The heck did she not realize it? "_Buchou_, at this rate, I think you'll have to assign random people to call me to make sure I sleep," she muttered, groaning as he laughed. "Yes, yes, laugh at your poor manager."

"_I'm sorry,_" he said, chuckling. "_Should I recruit Kitsuke to be one of those random people to call you to make sure you sleep?_"

"...if you recruit him, _buchou_, I'm throwing in the letter to leave the club."

"_All the more reason to recruit him then._"

"_Buchou_!"

"_You're just giving me more reason to get Kitsuke to help out, Rei._"

"...damn you and your _yandere_-ness. I'm going to bed."

"_Still going to get Kitsuke._"

"...to bed with you as well, Yukimura-_buchou._"

* * *

><p><strong>OMAKE (that isn't very funny this time round):<strong>

Yukimura was changing when a certain baseball player barged into his hospital room. Thank God he already put on his pants.

"Yo Yuki! How ya bee-" Kitsuke Takeshi paused, blinked, then whistled. "Sexy~"

The blue-haired captain chuckled lightly as he pulled his shirt on properly. "I didn't know you were coming," he said. "Should I take that remark as a compliment?"

Takeshi laughed. "Nah... only when lil' swallow says it," he answered, grinning. "Speaking of which, you guys were all over the paper yesterday..."

The other teen dropped a sports newspaper as well as a few tennis magazines onto the bed's attached table, and Yukimura picked one up, humming slightly as he skimmed through it.

"That's a surprise," he finally said. Then he chuckled. "_Maa_, they should be able to do at least that much."

Takeshi let out a low whistle. "Harsh as always, Yuki."

He laughed. "What about your side?" he asked. "I heard your sister's playing."

Instead of answering, the other teen flipped the page of the newspaper, and Yukimura shifted slightly to read it. '_Seigaku's Female Rookie Sets a New Record_', the headlines read, and the subline read '_Unseeded player completes a match within 7 minutes'_.

This time, it was his turn to whistle. "That's amazing," he said, and Takeshi laughed.

"Apparently, her buchou was injured," he informed the frail Rikkaidai captain. "She got so worried she didn't realize what she was doing. What I asked her about it, she was all," here, Takeshi made his voice higher pitched, and he took on a childish slur that Yukimura guessed his sister had, "Miki dweeed? Miki no remember..."

"That's one interesting sister you got there," Yukimura said instead, chuckling.

Takeshi grinned. "Hey, don't get any ideas now," he teased. "You already got your little swallow..."

"Hmm... True enough. That's too bad then."

Rei chose that moment to knock on the door and come in. "...what's too bad?"

"Is too bad Yuki likes little swallow more than little mellow..." Takeshi answered vaguely, and Yukimura had to control himself to not burst out laughing. The manager looked confused.

"I don't get it..."

"You no have to..." the other teen answered sing-songly, patting her head. "All right! I shall not disturb Yuki's time with his little swallow, I'll visit again next time~" Grinning, the other teen left the room with a "Bye Rei-_chan_, bye sexy~"

Yukimura tried not to laugh at Rei's confused glance as Takeshi left the room. "...I'm starting to question his sexuality," she deadpanned, and the blue-haired teen laughed then. "...why did he come anyway..."

"Saa..." Yukimura answered, grinning. "To talk about my little swallow and his little mellow, I guess."

Rei stared at him for a long time before she spoke again. "...Is that... a person...?"

"You want to know?" Yukimura asked with a grin befitting of his _yandere_personality, and the younger teen shook her head rapidly.

Well now, that's too bad. It doesn't matter, though - she'll find out in due time.

* * *

><p>Next chapter is... well. I have no clue. *SHOT* I only know I'm switching focus back to Seigaku. Hmmm...<p>

I guess I'll find out the same time as you do. :3


	9. Chapter 7: On Seigaku's side on things

The super long delay? I have no excuse. The chapter refused to write itself asufhshidfosds *killed*

Well now. Enjoy the insanity. I hope.

* * *

><p>Two days after the match with Hyotei Gakuen saw the Seigaku tennis regulars back to their usual training schedules - albeit with a major difference.<p>

Their captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu, had left for Germany to treat his shoulder.

Miyuki pouted slightly, already missing the silent, rather comforting presence. The rest of the team had placated her in their own ways, but the small redhead still felt the gap left behind by the absent captain. Unbidden, her mind replayed the meeting Tezuka had with a surprise visitor that decided where he was going for treatment - one Atobe Keigo.

It was rather surprising, really - the silver-haired teen came up to them out of nowhere that day, though Tezuka's reaction was to blink and say "oh, you came, Atobe," in a manner that suggested he expected him to drop by - either that, or nothing fazes the bespectacled captain at all.

As the two captains went into the clubroom to talk, Miyuki did not really know what they were talking about until Tezuka told them himself. But there was this one incident wherein she completely forgot Atobe was around and went barging into the clubroom to get Tezuka's approval for something.

She only remembered Atobe was there when he "_ah~n_"-d at her, and the redhead promptly turned around and slammed the door behind her.

"...she really doesn't like you." Miyuki heard Tezuka state bluntly - well, as bluntly as she could make it through the door.

"I never struck you as the type who'd point out the obvious, Tezuka," was Atobe's reply. Then there was the scratching of chair against tile as the two inside the clubroom stood up. "Well then, my business here is done. Take care of that shoulder, Tezuka. It'd be a shame to lose an opponent like you so soon."

"That was my intention."

And then the door opened, and a hand started ruffling her hair. "I see you haven't changed much, princess."

"_Stop calling me princess, you stupid cake_!"

It was not like her, but Miyuki knocked his hand away from her, _glared_, and ran away to find one of her seniors. Maybe Fuji would scare him off, with his pretty smile and pretty eyes. Yes, Fuji-_senpai _has pretty eyes...

She pulled herself out of that piece of memory quickly, even though the smiley senior really did have pretty eyes. It would not do to space out thinking about pretty eyes when Tezuka was counting on her to help Oishi in his absence.

Briefly, Miyuki wondered if it would be bothersome of her to invite the newly-acquainted Rikkaidai manager for an impromptu tennis match.

The redhead decided she would just ask. No harm done in asking, as her brother liked to say.

* * *

><p>So there really was no harm done in asking. Miyuki decided to call Rei as she was waiting for dinner to finish cooking, and the elder teen had sounded surprised when she picked up her call but easily agreed to the impromptu tennis match.<p>

"_So, this weekend, three at the tennis club in Kanagawa Prefecture okay with you?_"

Miyuki was not exactly sure of the place and told the elder teen so. Rei laughed.

"_Take the bus from your school. I'll meet you at the bus stop near the club_." There was a pause. "_You do remember what I look like, right?_"

The redhead pouted. "Miki wemember, Wei-_chan_," she whined. "Miki swear Miki 'member!"

"_Well, I don't know_," the other girl teased. "_You forgotten who I was the day you met me, after all..._"

"Miki said Miki sowwy, Wei-_chan_!" She was getting teary-eyed now, and Rei giggled.

"_I know, I know,_" she appeased. "_Well, I have to get back to work before _someone_ yells at me. See you this weekend, Miki._"

Miyuki chirped a happy goodbye in response, pocketing her phone and turning off the fire just as she heard the front door open and her brother's voice drift into the house.

"I'm home!"

Which was promptly followed by a loud thud.

"_Nii-nii_, welcome back!" she answered with mild confusion, walking out to investigate the thud. Golden eyes blinked slowly once, then another time before she spoke again. "..._nii-nii _died...?"

Kitsuke Takeshi had flopped - there really was no other word for it - on the ground, not even bothering to let go of his school bag and baseball bat. He lazily turned his hazel eyes towards her, and Miyuki blinked again.

"Miiiikiiiiiii... feeeeeeeeed meeeeeeeeeee..."

The younger blinked at the elder brunette before giving him his answer. "_Dowaaaaan_!"

"_Eeeeeh.._." her normally handsome and charismatic brother whined. "Miki, you no love _nii-nii _no more?"

Miyuki pouted. "_Nii-nii_ smelly!" she cried in response. "No want feed smelly _nii-nii_!"

"_Eeeeeh._.." Takeshi whined again. He paused. "Then, Miki, help me take a baaaaaaaaath..."

He began crawling towards his sister, and Miyuki deemed it fit to scoot away. "Go _'waaaaaaaay_!" she not-quite screeched, but it was close. Takeshi sighed and gave up, pushing himself up to sit and pouting despondently.

"First Rei refused to come with me on a date, _then _my cute sister rejected me..." he sighed. "Why am I so unlucky today?"

The familiar name made Miyuki pause. "Wei-_chan_?" she repeated. "Wikkai tennis club manager, Wei-_chan_?"

This time, Takeshi blinked. "Yea..." he confirmed. A pause. "Miki, you _know _Rei?"

Instead of answering him, Miyuki cheered. "Wei-_chan_ weject _nii-nii_!" She repeated that cheer while running around the living room, which made her two Siberian Huskies join in the fun - even though the dogs really did not know what was going on; they just know their owner was excited, and _hey, excitement is good_!

Takeshi observed his younger sister's celebration with a pout. Just as he was about to ask her why she was so happy about that, he got his answer.

"Wei-_chan_ weject _nii-nii _to go date with Miki!"

The elder's palm met his forehead with a loud smack. _First_ he found out his sister knew his junior, and _now_ his sister says that they were going on a date? This just was _not _fair!

...though to _be_ fair, _someone_ from the tennis club itself was keeping a _pretty _close eye on the younger brunette. It... probably did not help that someone's case for Rei to be quite dense... and for said person to be in the hospital, anyway.

"Fine," he huffed as he forced himself up - damn it, but practice at the baseball club was harsher than usual that day. The captain said something about not losing to the tennis club...

'_Rei, damn you and your insane training menus for your team!_'

(Over in a tennis court, the younger brunette sneezed. A certain seaweed-head laughed at the fact she missed an easy return, and was promptly hit in the head when Rei retaliated by hitting a twist serve... then another one... and another. Akaya quickly learned to never let his guard down against his childhood friend _ever again_.)

"Fine?" Miyuki echoed, coming down from her random high.

"Yes, fine," Takeshi repeated, starting to make his way up the stairs to his room. "I'm going to come and crash your date with Rei."

It took the redhead a moment to figure out what he was talking about, then she pouted. "_Nii-nii_, no _distuuuuuuuurb_...!" she yelled at him from the bottom of the stairs. He laughed merrily.

Bullying Miyuki was just _so_ much fun.

* * *

><p><strong>OMAKE:<strong>

It was just another regular day of training over at Rikkaidai's tennis courts. The non-regulars were practicing their swings, the first years were helping out with picking up stray tennis balls (trust them; there were _a lot of them_), and the regulars were playing single matches against each other under Sanada's watchful eye - and Rei's, to a lesser extent (only because she was playing against the data master, who claimed he did not have enough of her data. The brunette wondered _why the heck did he need her data for when she's just the manager_, but decided not to question it. Saves her brain cells that way).

"_'mmtachi_!"

Rei, who was in the middle of getting into a position to return the slice, stopped short, as did everyone else within hearing vicinity. The tennis ball hit the fencing around the court and bounced slightly before rolling to a halt. A long pause ensued.

"...'_Kamaitachi_'?" Rei questioned, and the senior she was playing against looked mildly flustered.

"It was a sudden tongue-tied moment that escaped my calculations," Yanagi replied, his tone trying but failing to hide his embarrassment.

Another pause, but it was cut short by Rei's burst of laughter. "'_Mmtachi_'," she repeated in between laughter. "'_MMTACHI_'!"

"_Oy_, Yanagi," Niou called from a different court. "You broke our manager." In the background, the brunette was still laughing and repeating the phrase that cracked her up in the first place. Akaya soon joined her hilarity, as did Marui. Jackal shook his head at the trio of laughing hyenas despite the smile that tugged at his features, and Yagyuu hid his smile by adjusting his glasses. The trickster outright grinned.

Yanagi sighed. "The percentage of Takeuchi being unable to continue the match with me is 99.9 percent," he deduced sadly. He really wanted to gather more data on their manager's play style, too... "Genichirou, would you like to play a match with me?"

The vice-captain, who had been sighing at the manager's amusement ("'_Mmtachi_'!" she repeated for the fifteenth time), smirked wryly at him. "If you could get her to stop rolling on the court with laughter," he said, "I don't mind."

Yanagi glanced at the manager who still found the entire thing amusing with a wry smile of his own. "Well," he told his friend, "I guess it can wait."

Sanada sighed self-sufferingly, but Yanagi noticed the glint of relief in the strict vice-captain's eyes before his cap shaded them. As the other teen barked orders for everyone to resume training and to ignore the laughing fit their manager got into, the data master's smile went unnoticed.

'_Looks like even Genichirou was worried._'

They did not see their manager laugh like that ever since Seiichi got hospitalized, after all. Watching her laugh - even at the expense of his own pride - was, in his honest opinion, quite worth it.

* * *

><p>Uh... somehow, the omake became <em>total sap<em>. IDK how that happened. D:

The 'mmtachi' is a loving reference to Ono Kento, the first guy who played Yanagi Renji in the musicals. Apparently, he got tongue-tied during an actual performance and actually said that. x'D

Also, Miyuki's speech was typed like that _on purpose_. She's a child in a teenager's body, remember? x'D


	10. Chapter 8: Something unexpected

An extremely long chapter ahead! 8D YAY!

Also, the omake is actually amusing this time round. I hope.

* * *

><p>The weekends could not come any faster. Normally not a morning person, Miyuki was hyper when she woke up that morning for her game of tennis with Rei. Takeshi, who was not a morning person himself, stared at her from his flopped position on the couch (the dogs came in from the open door and promptly flopped on his legs. Takeshi did not even bother responding to that).<p>

"I'm off!" the redhead called happily after she put on her sports shoes and shouldered her tennis bag, and her brother mumbled something that was supposed to be a response before she slammed the door on him.

Yes, Miyuki _loved _slamming doors on people.

She got on the bus from where the older teen told her to, and was sufficiently hyper when she saw Rei leaning against the pillar of a stop at least five stops away from her school. Miyuki near-literally leapt off the bus and promptly got the other girl in a hug.

"Whoa there, hi," Rei exclaimed, balancing herself admirably fast considering the hug attack was unexpected. Miyuki let go of her and grinned. "Well _someone's _excited," Rei continued dryly.

"Tennis!" Miyuki cheered, and Rei giggled. The brunette picked up her own tennis bag from the ground and shouldered it before turning to her.

"The club's this way," she told her, gesturing for Miyuki to follow. The redhead happily did so, skipping behind Rei in a manner that had the older teen shaking her head with an amused sigh. Upon noticing tennis courts, Miyuki rushed up to the brunette and began chattering excitedly, which had Rei looking a mix of confused and amused.

"Miki, I don't speak gibberish," she said patiently as she led her into the club's lobby. Miyuki pouted in response, and Rei grinned.

"Oh you so cute," the brunette teased, making her pout more. Still grinning, Rei told her to stay put while she found out which court the club allocated them, and Miyuki took the chance to look around, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

The lobby of the club was not particularly impressive - but it was well-maintained. Some ways behind the counter where Rei was at was the toilets and shower rooms, while to the counter's immediate right was a small cafe that sold refreshments and finger food. There were stairs that led to the second floor, and the sign that stood in front of the steps said it was a gym. It looked like there were more floors, but the directory that was on a wall showed that those floors were not accessible to those who were not staff members.

She was distracted from her observation when Rei tapped her shoulder. "C'mon," she said simply, and Miki grinned. They got to play, they got to play, _they got to plaaaay_!

Trailing behind Rei like a puppy, the redhead definitely did not pay attention to where she was going. She turned a corner - looking around distractedly at all the other people playing - and found herself walking smack into someone.

Rubbing her forehead, Miyuki looked up, blinked, and looked up some more. "Twall _nii-chan_," she greeted, waving. Rei, noticing that she had fallen behind, came walking back.

"Miki, you know this..." a pause, "_very _tall person?" Brown eyes blinked.

"_Ara_, we meet again," he said with a chuckle. "I'm Saitou Itaru."

"Miki's name's Kitsuke Miyuki," the redhead chirped, waving.

"I'm Takeuchi Rei," Rei introduced herself, bowing slightly with a small smile.

The now-acquainted man smiled. "You're here for a game?" he asked, chuckling when Miyuki nodded enthusiastically, whereas Rei opted to simply answer verbally with a short "_hai_". "Well, don't let me stop you," he said, waving them off. "Have fun."

"Miki will~"

Rei bowed to Saitou as he left before turning back to her. "Let's go," she told her with a smile, this time holding her hand to make sure she did not bump into anyone else.

Miyuki grinned. This was going to be _fun_!

* * *

><p><em>BUMP<em>!

"Ow... Sorry I'm late," the long-haired man apologized as he stepped into the surveillance room. There were varying responses to his entrance - distracted mumbling, some rather enthusiastic (and unenthusiastic) replies, and some outright ignored him. How mean.

Saitou settled himself onto a chair, spinning it slightly for kicks before searching up two names. He read through the articles that were pulled up briefly, eyebrows rising at his newly-obtained information before focusing his attention on the monitors before him. His gaze drifted between screens before one caught his attention.

He laced his fingers together, propping his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his hands. Someone came by, leaning against his chair.

"Whatcha looking at, Sai-_chan_?"

His eyes rolled back to regard the speaker momentarily before turning back to the screen. "Camera 19," he said simply.

There was a pause as the speaker found the screen. "Hmm..." he started as they watched the redhead serve, "since when were _you _in-charge of the female division?"

Saitou smiled, watching the steady rally the two girls started up. "They're interesting," he said instead of answering the question. He and his additional audience both whistled when the brunette managed to return a particularly tricky shot, and the other let out an appreciative hum when the redhead countered that with a drop shot, ending their first rally.

"I see," the other said, sounding amused. He moved away, calling for someone to join him but Saitou paid him no heed, keeping his attention on the monitor.

'_Kitsuke Miyuki and Takeuchi Rei_,' he recalled their names. He vaguely remembered who Kitsuke was during his walk to the surveillance room - and that article of her setting a new time record helped jogged his memory, but Takeuchi Rei was an enigma. No match records under her name. The only thing that made her noteworthy out of everything he read was that she was _Rikkaidai's_ team manager - and _coach_, to some extent. Also, the amount of martial arts-related articles that came up with her name in them was _astounding_.

Then the match started between the two females, and Takeuchi was playing _evenly_ against the one who set a new time record in for female middle school division in _ten years_. In fact, it looked like she may _win_.

Saitou continued his observations, feeling his smile stretch wider. "_Very_interesting," he muttered to himself, and grinned when he spotted his friends entering the court beside the two girls. He leaned back against his seat, chuckling.

"This should be worthwhile."

* * *

><p>Playing against Rei was <em>fun<em>. Miyuki was not going all out - then again, she _rarely_ did - but Rei responded to all her shots quite easily, only missing if Miyuki managed to set the elder up to be in a bad position. Even _that_was rather hard to do, and the redhead could not help but think that it was something to be expected from the other upon remembering the few members from Rikkai she knew.

She vaguely noticed two figures enter the court beside theirs, but quickly refocused as the brunette returned her serve. Miyuki grinned as she made her way to return that with a slice... and then they were both distracted by the rapid rally the other court had started.

As Miyuki was blessed with motion vision, she had no problems keeping up with the rally. Whether or not Rei had motion vision was something she did not know, but the other was keeping up with the speed of the rally with relative ease.

Maybe it was an old tennis ball they were using (because Miyuki _seriously_ did not know), but the thing somehow _split in half _after a particularly hard return and the halves came flying towards them. Instinctively, the redhead raised her racquet to block it from hitting her face and Rei took a step back before smacking the half that flew her way onto the court with her racquet frame.

"Wei-_chan, kakkoii_~" Miyuki cooed, going starry-eyed from the 'coolness' Rei appeared to excude from the action in Miki-vision. The brunette blinked at her, looking confused.

"Uh... thanks?" she offered uncertainly while the players from the other court rushed to them.

"We're _so sorry_," one of them said, looking sheepish and apologetic at the same time. "We did not know how that happened - did it hit any of you?" He looked relieved when both of them shook their heads. "Oh thank God."

"Don't worry about it," Rei assured, smiling slightly. "No harm done."

"Still, that shouldn't have happened," the other one spoke, looking confused at the halves their tennis ball became. "We're _really _sorry."

They apologized one more time before they went back to their own court, taking the destroyed tennis ball with them to throw away. Rei stared after them, a frown on her face, and Miyuki blinked.

"Wei-_chan_?"

The brunette blinked, turning back to her. "Yea?"

"Something wrong?" Miyuki blinked right back, and Rei laughed softly.

"It's nothing Miki," she said, tossing her a tennis ball. The redhead caught it, and Rei smiled. "Let's continue. Last I checked, you were one point away from keeping your service game."

"_Eeeeeh_," Miyuki whined. "But I'm still losing by two games."

"That's what you get for not playing seriously, Miki," Rei teased good-naturedly, and she pouted.

"Wei-_chan_, you _meeaanieeeee_...!" she whined again, and the brunette laughed.

* * *

><p>"I see what you mean about them being interesting now, Sai-<em>chan<em>."

The long-haired man laughed. "I told you, didn't I?" he said smugly. "So," he said, turning to another long-haired man, "what do you think, Kurobe?"

The man addressed as Kurobe smirked. "_Saa_..." he answered.

Saitou pouted.

* * *

><p>"A letter for me?" Rei repeated, blinking.<p>

It was a few days after her game with Miyuki, and the club advisor (no one said they did not_ have_ one) called for her to meet him after she finished instructing the non-regulars what they were supposed to do for the day. She had glanced over at their cap-wearing vice-captain, who nodded and told her to not keep the teacher waiting, and then she followed said teacher to the faculty office, which led to her having this current conversation.

She accepted the letter the teacher handed over to her and glanced at the envelope. '_To: Takeuchi Rei, manager/coach of Rikkaidai Fuzoku Middle School Tennis Club_'. She had to blink and reread the envelope to make sure her eyes did not deceive her.

While it was common knowledge she was the manager, the fact that she was their pseudo-coach was _not_. Whoever it was that wrote the letter must have done his or her research. The brunette glanced at the teacher who nodded, and opened the letter.

'_Miss Takeuchi Rei, you are cordially invited to join the National Under Seventeen training camp-_'

Wait, _what_? Stop. Rewind.

"National...Under Seventeen...camp?" she repeated the words slowly, blinking and looking back up at the teacher, who was now smiling at her confusion. "But this is..." she trailed off to finish reading the letter, and when she did, let out a confused "eh?".

"_S-sensei_... this is for the Under Seventeen. A camp where _high-schoolers_ are normally _chosen_."

"Yes."

"Are you sure it's not meant for the team as a whole? 'Cause it sure looks like it."

"Takeuchi-_kun_, I believe the letter was addressed to you, and you alone."

"But... eh?"

The teacher had a smile on his face as he addressed her. "Takeuchi-_kun_," he said, "personally, I think you should go." Rei blinked at him, and he chuckled. "You've helped lead the team admirably since you joined, and it became more admirable to watch you lead from the shadows after Yukimura-_kun_ was hospitalized. Even though he doesn't show it, Sanada-_kun_ appreciates your help more than you know. Watching you from up here," he gestured at the nearby window that overlooked the tennis courts, "makes me wonder how much of your potential in tennis is being clamped down by your need to help _them _improve instead."

Rei blinked at him again, feeling a blush creep onto her cheeks. "Um... well, that's just my duty as a manager-slash-coach?"

"Be as that may be," the teacher continued strongly, "your potential is going to waste if you don't take this chance, Takeuchi-_kun_." He leaned back in his seat. "Of course, you would have to think about it before you decide on any course of action, but that is how I feel, and I feel that this opportunity couldn't have come at a better time."

Mutely, the brunette nodded and bowed her leave, closing the door on her laughing teacher. Pocketing the letter with the intention of reading through it more thoroughly after practice, she dashed back to the courts, purposely ignoring Akaya's whines for her to play a game with him and dashing off to play against their red-haired senior instead.

Marui had a long, good laugh at Akaya's pout before they could start, though.

* * *

><p>Having been charged by Sanada to clean the courts as punishment for slacking off (again), Niou was not expecting anyone to be in the clubhouse when he was done.<p>

He was wrong.

Upon opening the door, he saw the back of their brown-haired manager sitting on the bench, staring intently at..._something_. The silver-haired teen did not exactly sneak up on her, but he walked silently enough for her to not realize she was not alone.

The fact that she did not realize he was _right behind her_ struck him as a little odd; with all her martial arts training, Rei was more than a little aware of her surroundings. It made him _extremely curious_as to what it was she was focusing on that made her tune out everything else.

'_Under Seventeen training camp_', he read over her shoulder.

"_Hou_," he said, slinging an arm around her shoulders and chuckling when she jumped. "I just read something interesting."

"_Senpai_!" she not-quite yelled, shifting slightly so he could sit as well. He gladly plopped onto the bench, getting into the younger's personal space even more than he already was to read the letter she held. There was a not-very convincing attempt at stopping him ("(Rei) Get out of my personal space! When did you come in anyway?" "(Niou) How about no? About twenty seconds ago." "Niou-_senpai_!" "_Ooo_, whoever wrote this knows you're not _just_ a manager." "Shut it." "Love you too, Uchitake." "...what did I do to deserve you as a senior? _What_."), and soon he was reading the entire thing through.

The trickster poked the younger's cheek after he was done reading it. "You ain't going?" he asked. Brown eyes caught his blue ones momentarily before looking away.

"I'm...undecided right now."

The answer was rather unexpected. "Why?" he shot back, and Rei turned to him.

"You _do_ realize the significance of the dates written in this invitation, right?" she questioned. "The dates for the practices are the are dates when there are _matches_, Niou-_senpai_. Matches that I, as the manager and somewhat-coach, _have _to watch."

The silver-haired teen did not see her point in that. "So?" he countered. "It's not like we didn't play matches when you weren't around before." He shrugged. "'Sides, it's the perfect chance for you to develop your _own_ skills properly."

He smirked at her surprise. "Yes, Uchitake, I saw you when you were practicing." He poked her cheek again. "I must commend you for learning it to _that _level on your own."

Rei pouted slightly, smacking his finger away. "I have a good role model to learn from on a daily basis," she answered matter-of-factly. Niou could not help his grin.

"I don't think that 'role model' of yours knows what you're doing."

The brunette 'pfft'd at that. "Right, as if I believe you. Stupid _petenshi_."

"On the contrary, dearest Uchitake," Niou retorted as Rei smacked him for purposely messing up her family name, "a trickster cannot be stupid for a trickster needs to be smart enough to trick those around him. Or her."

There was a sudden pause, and Niou smirked. "..._if _I do decide to go for it, can I count on you to deceive the heck out of everyone else?"

"'Course," he answered easily, getting the brunette in a one-armed hug (not that he removed his hand from her shoulder yet). "Not quite sure why you want it to be a secret, though. What, want to see if you can beat the crap out of all of us-wait, you're already doing that."

It was probably tricky on her part, but Rei managed to smack him at the back of his head. "Ow, okay, I get it," he quickly jumped to his own defense. "Is a secret 'cause _reasons_. 'Kay, I get it, _stop hitting me_."

The brunette stopped, but not before she hit him one last time. Then, rather surprisingly - because Rei was _not _a physical person - she let her head rest against his shoulder and sighed.

"...thanks, _senpai_." He could _hear_her relief at getting his help. Silly girl...

His smirk getting a bit of a fond twist to it, Niou ruffled her hair, chuckling at the half-hearted protests. "No problem, _chibi_."

A pause. "You owe me some lunch boxes."

* * *

><p>"Hey, anyone knows where Rei is?"<p>

Niou glanced up from tying his shoelaces at Akaya's question before quickly ducking his head back down to hide his smirk. So she went. Well this should be fun.

"_Saa_," he replied vaguely. "Something came up at the last minute again, probably." The silver-haired teen shrugged and stood, shoving his hands into his pockets nonchalantly. "It's not like this never happened before."

The seaweed-head pouted. "But she didn't _tell _me!"

"Right, because you are her _self-proclaimed_ younger brother, she _has_ to tell you _everything_," Niou deadpanned back at him, and the younger chose to pout instead of reply. Huh. For once, the seaweed-head was _smart_.

His doubles partner glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes, as did Yanagi - though the data master was far more discreet about it. As he expected; these two suspected something was up already. That was fine, though - Yanagi would not say anything, and Yagyuu - as Rei had confessed when he bullied the brunette into buying him dinner that night - was one of the people she had wanted to talk to before he 'intervened'.

The trickster stretched. "I'm going to get something to drink," he declared. "It's too damned hot here."

Yagyuu stood at that declaration. "I'll join you, Niou-_kun_," the bespectacled teen said. Niou shrugged, not particularly caring, and the two walked in companionable silence.

"Niou-_kun_."

"Nn?" the silver-haired teen grunted noncommittally.

"You know what Takeuchi-_chan _is up to, and where she is, don't you?"

His tone was not accusing; rather, it was calm yet curious. Niou chuckled - he liked that about Yagyuu.

"If I do?"

The bespectacled teen paused, gathering his thoughts as Niou got himself a cold sports drink. As he popped the can open, Yagyuu spoke up again.

"Niou-_kun_, I'm fine with not knowing what she's up to as long as she knows what she's doing," Rikkai's Gentleman told him. "Though you _do_ know if anything happens to her while she's off doing..." a pause and vague hand waving, "whatever she is, Yukimura-_kun _would have your head?"

The silver-haired teen swallowed his mouthful of the drink and grinned. "Well then, it's _his _fault for being in the hospital, aye?"

Yagyuu shook his head at him, exasperated. "Niou-_kun_..."

* * *

><p>The Under-Seventeen female camp was, apparently, five kilometers away from the male camp. Rei sighed, scratching her head at the differences between a map she printed out and the map that was enclosed in the letter she gotten. "Man, but this map is <em>confusing<em>," she muttered, looking at the squiggles that was supposed to be a road. "Who drew this thing? It's _horrible_."

(Somewhere within the male camp, Kurobe sneezed.)

Somewhat glad she had the foresight to print her own map, the brunette made her way to the female camp rather calmly. When she reached the gates, she was rather surprised to see a familiar redhead.

"Miki?"

Her voice made the younger stop bouncing on the balls of her feet, turn, and instantly rush at her. Rei barely managed to brace herself for impact when the smaller teen pounced with a squeal of overly-excited "Wei-_chaaaaaan_!".

So, Miyuki was invited to this too. What are the odds?

* * *

><p><strong>OMAKE:<strong>

"Say, Niou-_senpai_..."

"Oh, Uchitake." The trickster responded. Rei pouted. Stop creating a new family name for her, damn it! "What's up?"

"What does _puri _even mean?"

The senior smirked. "That's a secret."

"_Eeeeh_," the brunette uncharacteristically whined. "_Senpai_, that's mean."

Niou chuckled. "If you really want to know, I'll tell you." Rei blinked. It could _not_ be _that_ easy to get an answer from the trickster - it just was _not_. "The meaning of _puri _is..."

A dramatic pause. "_Pupina_."

Another long pause. "..._senpai_, are you teasing me?"

The trickster merely grinned.


	11. Chapter 9: Another break

**Right. So. Timeskip. I hope you don't mind. 8D**

* * *

><p>It was rather funny, Seigaku's first-year ace decided, that even when Miyuki wasn't around to be a cause of worry to the mother hen of a vice-captain the tennis team had, he would <em>still<em> worry about her.

Yes, Echizen Ryoma, snarky little bastard and all that, was hiding his amusement at the worrywart that was Oishi Shuichiro, who was worrying his head off at the missing presence that was Kitsuke Miyuki - all while managing the close knit yet slightly troublesome group of tennis players that made up the Seigaku tennis club regulars.

They had just finished their match against Rokkaku - he was a little peeved that he didn't get to play, but eh. If it was what the substitute captain had decided...

(Yes, Ryoma actually respected his vice-captain. Imagine that. It's his honest opinion, though, that anyone who was _not_ Kitsuke Takeshi who would worry about that hyperactive redhead was _more_ than worthy of respect - not that he would outright show it. Nope, not his style.)

(Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Miyuki sneezed, and a certain brunette couldn't help her laughter. Miyuki pouted.)

His (mental) laughter had quickly stopped, though, when he saw the match that was Fudoumine versus Rikkaidai Fuzoku after being told to warm up. The fact that _Tachibana Kippei_, of all people, couldn't win his match made him realize that no, he can't win at the level he was at now.

That fact peeved him even more than that he couldn't play, but he pushed that thought - along with his curiosity over what sort of training Miyuki was going through - away from his head. He knew what he had to do to help him - no, not just him; his team obtain a fighting chance... a chance to win.

Ryoma won't just _complete_ the move; he'll perfectly _master_ it.

_Cool Drive_.

* * *

><p>When and what for was that side of him created, he wondered. He wondered a lot about it - ever since the first time he injured someone he considered <em>family<em>, even at a young age. Of course, Rei - surprisingly mature even as a kid, and managed to retain that as she grew up - had laughed it off and demanded parfait from him, but he knew it was a matter of time before he couldn't rein that side of him in - _away_ from the surface that was entirely _him_._ Kirihara Akaya._

But every time he couldn't manage to pull that..._version_...of him back on time, someone would get hurt - and it got _easier_ for the other one to come out, time and time again.

And the worse part of it all was... a part of Akaya _wanted_ that strength. Pull it by a stretch a little, and one could say he _yearned_ it. _Longed_ for the strength that would bring him a step closer to defeating the Three Demons of Rikkai.

Maybe that was why it was so ridiculously _easy_ for that other side of him to gain control. Akaya didn't know.

What he _did_ know was he _hated_ it. Even if that side was him, in a way, it wasn't truly _him_. It was _not_ the Kirihara Akaya who adored Takeuchi Rei as his older sister; who looked up to Sanada Genichirou for his strength and skill and Yanagi Renji for his calculative decisiveness in tennis; who was _that_ bit scared of Yagyuu Hiroshi for the Gentleman was _so_ hard to read; who liked and enjoyed the company of Marui Bunta and Kuwahara Jackal; who had a bit of a love-hate friendship with Niou Masaharu; and it was _definitely not_ the Kirihara Akaya who looked up to, adored, and was a little scared (sometimes) of Yukimura Seiichi.

No, _that_ Kirihara Akaya didn't see, didn't _treasure_ those individuals as much as he did. _That_ Kirihara Akaya wanted nothing else but to utterly, completely _crush_ them. Them, who he treasured more than he would ever let on, and whoever else unfortunate enough to stand across him in a tennis court.

So when _that_ Akaya came out during the match with Tachibana Kippei, what Akaya wanted to do more than anything else was to warn the elder to be _careful_ - but all he did was laugh, smirk... and on the inside, Akaya died a little bit more.

That night, when he woke up shuddering and nearly in tears from a nightmare induced by his fear of himself, Akaya blindly reached for his phone beside his bed and hit the speed dial for the one person who knew his fear.

"_Akaya?_" Her voice was tired and laced with sleepiness, and Akaya found himself feeling guilty for waking her up - but when he tried to speak a choked sob came out instead.

"_Akaya? What's wrong?_" she was instantly alert from the sound. "_Wait, no, never mind. Get ready to open the door for me. I'm coming over. Be there in five._"

He heard the muffled rustle of a blanket being moved away before the call was cut, and true to her word, she was there within five minutes - complete with a bag of clothes to change into the next morning. Brown eyes took in his appearance, his eyes bloodshot not from anything else but _crying_ for once, and the moment they were in his room she put her bag down and pulled him into a hug, letting his head rest against her shoulder.

"How bad was it this time, hmm?" she asked gently, and Akaya felt his control over his tears slip. He choked his nightmare out between sobs, and Rei did nothing else but hold him as he cried, humming soothingly into his ear and patting his back in rhythmic motions.

Akaya suspected she actually fell asleep at one point because the hand patting him and the humming stopped for a moment, but her hold on him was strong and _never_ faltered, even when she forced herself awake again. That was something he loved about her - and maybe the rest of Rikkai did as well. The side of Rei that would _always_ be strong for the people around her.

"Feel better?" she asked as he pulled away from her, wiping his eyes. He nodded, not trusting his voice, and the brunette smiled, reaching out to ruffle his hair.

"Okay." And that was another thing he liked - it was always 'okay', never 'good' because she _knew_ he wasn't 100 percent okay; that he _wouldn't_ be 'good' until he knew how to rein in the side of himself he feared.

As Rei led him to the kitchen for some warm milk, Akaya, in a moment of childishness, decided he was going to enjoy the pampering (and teasing by default) he got from his 'older sister' before anyone else realized the maternal side of the brunette and 'stole' her away from him.

Because, as Rei said before, he was _her_ precious little brother, and that gave him the right to be as annoying as _humanly_ possible.

* * *

><p>Atobe Keigo was mildly amused - and perhaps a little confused, though he made sure <em>that<em> particular fact was well-hidden. His all-knowing vice spared him an amused smirk before casting his gaze back to the source of Hyotei tennis team's confusion.

Akutagawa Jirou, either asleep or awake and hyper during practices, was in neither of the two states at the moment. No, he was awake and..._depressed_?

"_Oy_, Jirou!" he called. The narcoleptic teen turned to him, eyes big and sad before he began to wail (the silver-haired teen made a mental note to himself to prepare ear plugs next time he saw Jirou being awake and depressed - the blonde can _wail_).

"Miki didn't reply meeeeeeeeee! Our cake daaaateeeeeeeeeeeee!"

More than a little confused (though, obviously, it didn't show on his face), he turned to his vice. "What's he going on about, _ah~n_?"

Oshitari's eyes were amused behind his (useless) glasses. "Ah, it seems Yuki-_hime_ didn't reply his mail for their weekly cake date." A pause as the Osakan pulled his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "It would seem like she didn't reply mine as well, for our weekly game."

Before he could say anything, Mukahi bounded up to the blue-haired teen, glancing at Oshitari's phone screen whilst resting his arm on the taller teen's shoulder somehow. "The girl who normally mails you around this time of the week to schedule a game, right? She didn't reply you?"

Oshitari calmly swatted the redhead away. "_Maa_, it looks like it for-" he cut himself off when Jirou made a mad dash to the bench where his phone was, and the team as a whole watched as said teen's face brightened and proceeded to cheer.

"Cake date is on! Hurray! _Ure-C_!"

"Looks like he got a reply." Mukahi observed unnecessarily as their now-hyper teammate ran around the courts, cheering the entire way. A soft chime came from Oshitari's phone this time, and the blue-haired teen chuckled after he read the message and pocketed his phone.

"Looks like my weekly game is on, too," he said calmly. "Let's get back to practice, Gakuto."

As his team went back to their usual workings - sans the extremely hyper Jirou, Keigo found himself thinking of one thing only.

'...exactly how many people in my team are acquainted with Miyuki?' A pause. 'She lets Oshitari call her '_princess_', but calls me a _cake_ when _I_ call her that!?'

* * *

><p><strong>OMAKE:<strong>

The start of his second year in Rikkaidai wasn't too bad, Takeshi thought. He was in the same class as Yagyuu Hiroshi again (the bespectacled teen helped him out _loads_ in the year previous), and the (_extremely_ loud) Sanada Genichirou joined their class this year by some sort of scoring system Takeshi refused to try and comprehend. He didn't manage to talk to the other brunette yet though, seeing as he was almost always trying to get away from the school's resident Trickster (with a capital T), who, from the sounds of things, was trying to get the golfer to join the tennis team.

It wasn't until _after_ the Trickster succeeded that he managed to talk to him - which was also already past the time of club registration for the noo-_freshmen_... and also after the rumor that the male tennis team gotten a manager began to spread.

Takeshi did not expect that rumor to be confirmed _in his classroom._

It was lunchbreak, and he was asking Yagyuu some questions about the topic their Japanese history teacher had covered. Yagyuu told him apologetically that Sanada would be a better Japanese history teacher than he ever would, and it was with that he turned and began walking to the other teen's desk.

"_Oy_, Sanada, there's something I don't understand from the topic earlier," he said, flipping his book to show the other what he didn't understand. Sanada nodded and waited for him to point out the subject matter, and then a loud door slam.

...what?

It was followed quickly by a first year girl running in the direction of Sanada's desk. The little one (Takeshi mentally cackled for addressing his junior that way) slammed a folder on the black-haired teen's desk and proceeded to rapid-fire speak at the other - something about club budget...?

The younger brunette (another one! Rikkaidai sure had a lot of brunettes...) was talking so fast that all Sanada could do was mutely nod; it looked like he had no clue what the heck she was talking about. Takeshi was amused by the junior's tone and rapid-fire speaking, but it wasn't to say that he liked being interrupted.

Shrugging, he used the chibi's head as his armrest and continued asking Sanada his question. An indignant "hey!" sounded from the poor girl, and Sanada looked stunned.

Takeshi got an elbow in his gut for his efforts. "_Ow_, nice to meet you too."

A hand lightly rubbing his stomach where he got elbowed, the first-year looked up at him with a slight scowl, rubbing the back of her neck. "Well my neck hurts, _senpai_, so we're even."

Not feeling his _yan_-ness subside, Takeshi grinned. "No, we're not." He let his hand resume its perch on her head, and the younger flailed.

"_Senpai_, hand off!"

He refused. And he continued to ask Sanada his question - all very calmly and with a smile. Apparently, the girl he was bullying hated to lose - she restarted her complaining anew, and Sanada really could do nothing else but stare that the duo of brunettes at his desk, his expression stunned.

"Please stop, both of you. You're causing a scene and troubling Sanada-_kun_." Yagyuu came to Sanada's rescue. "Kitsuke-_kun_, kindly move your hand from Takeuchi-_san_'s head." Mentally pouting, Takeshi did. "And Takeuchi-_san_, you interrupted Kitsuke-_kun_'s conversation with Sanada-_kun_ when you came in."

The girl blinked, looking abashed. "Oh, um..." she scratched her cheek, the slightest of pouts edging into her features. "I... _gomenasai_."

Takeshi blinked. When the younger brunette ducked her head, he could see his sister in his mind's eye. He grinned.

"Because you're _so_ cute, I forgive you," he said, ruffling the younger's hair. She flailed again, yelling at him to "stop messing up my hair!". Once again, he refused.

"Kitsuke-_kun_," Yagyuu admonished, and Takeshi grinned unrepentantly as he 'apologized' to the younger.

The bell chose to ring then, and Takeuchi jumped before grabbing her folder and hightailing it out of the second year's classroom. Amidst the mumbling and comments that erupted with the girl's leave, Takeshi went back to his seat, laughing. He halted in front of Yagyuu's desk, though.

"Kitsuke-_kun_?"

"...I forgot to ask Sanada that question I wanted to," he deadpanned, and the bespectacled teen chuckled.

"You can always ask him after the lesson."

"Right," he agreed, then yelled across the classroom to the slightly younger teen, "I'm booking you after this class!"

Takeshi returned to his seat amongst his classmates' amusement at this antics, and just before he sat down, a thought occurred to him. "So uh, Yagyuu?"

"Yes, Kitsuke-_kun_?"

"Who exactly did I meet just now?"

The entire class fell silent at his question, and Sanada's quiet "_tarundoru_" was heard quite clearly. Yagyuu, apparently too used to his eccentricities (Takeshi internally pouted), merely adjusted his glasses and answered.

"She's the tennis club manager."

"I see." Takeshi nodded, settling back down onto his seat. The rest of the class, though, had varying reactions to that piece of rumor-turned-news.

After class, the door flew open just as Sanada was about to explain to him the key persons involved in the Meiji Revolution. Takeshi turned and saw the same brunette from lunchtime. He grinned.

"Hi again, sorry I've booked him after you left," he called. The younger pouted and closed the door, and Takeshi's grin grew. "Oh, isn't she _cute_?" he cooed before turning back to Sanada. "So, yes, continue explaining please."

* * *

><p><strong>Right. Characters' hair colors are all taken from mangadating sims. x'D And the omake is on how Rei and Takeshi meet for the first time. Aren't they cute? Hehehehe~**

**Also, that long introspection bit when it was Akaya's POV? It was something I thought suited his character, and I thought about if for a loooooong time already. It may clash with your own view on him, so just letting it out that this is _my_ point of view on Rikkai's resident seaweed head. 8D**


	12. Chapter 10: Hyotei's sleepy friend

She had been gone for a week. That was long enough for Miyuki to miss her team, and with that said...

"MIKI _BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK_!"

There went the small redhead, dashing into Seigaku's tennis court during the team's morning practice. Various cries of her name ensued, and a certain acrobatic player proceeded to suffocate their manager by means of glomping and hugging her to the point she could not breathe.

"Miki! I missed you, _nya_! How are you?" Eiji cooed, and Miyuki flailed her arms in an attempt to tell the senior to let her go. She failed rather successfully - that was, until Oishi told his doubles partner that he was going to 'choke Miki to death' rather calmly. The rest of the team gathered and welcomed her back in their own ways, and waited in amusement for her to regain her breath.

The hyper redhead held out a bag that miraculously escaped everyone's attention until that point - Inui's glasses glinted in a way that told Miyuki he noticed it beforehand, though. "Miki bought souvenirs!" she chirped happily and proceeded to pour the contents of the bag out.

As the seniors leaned over her to see what their souvenirs were, Miyuki began handing them out. "Bandana for Kaidou-_senpai_," she said happily, handing over the Japan flag-decorated item to the aforementioned senior, "Momo-_senpai_ gets armband," item handover, "Kawa-_senpai_, towel..."

A sudden pause as she tried to remember who got what. "Ah!" she remembered. "Inui-_senpai_ gets notebook, Eiji-_senpai_ is bear doll, Oishi-_senpai_ is _chibi piwwow_! Ryo gets snacks, and Fuji-_senpai_ gets picture frame!"

"You didn't get anything for Tezuka?" Fuji asked her as she finished handing out the souvenirs. Miyuki positively sparkled.

"Miki air-mailed _buchou_ a T-shirt!"

Cue silence from the team as they tried to picture their captain's face when he receives his parcel. Cue half the team trying not to laugh from the mental image. Fuji merely chuckled and ruffled her hair.

"How's camp?"

"Camp was tough, but fun," she declared, still sparkling. "Miki learn loads..." she paused and pouted, "but the seniors are all meanies..."

"That must have been hard on you," Fuji answered, patting her head. Miyuki nodded.

"And then, there was a day where Miki was bowed, so Miki made a new training routine for everyone and a new diet recipe~" As she made that declaration, she triumphantly pulled out a notebook that probably contained exactly that.

"_Hou_, can I take a look?"

"Go ahead~"

As Inui and Oishi went through Miyuki's training routine and diet recipe, the rest of the team crowded around the two reading. A short moment passed before Momoshiro's statement reflected what the rest of the team was thinking.

"It definitely looks more convincing compared to Inui-_senpai_'s."

Over in Rikkaidai Fuzoku, it was more or less the same situation. The difference was that...

"I was at a training camp and you guys want souvenirs? Jump off a cliff and die."

"_Uwaaaah_! Rei's a meanieeeee!"

"Jackal, do something about her!"

"Why _me_!?"

"Oh right, I have a new training menu for all of you. Prepare to drop dead."

"T-Takeuchi-_chan_, you mean we _aren't_ already dropping dead?"

"_Puri_."

A sigh. "_Tarundoru_..."

"Oh, this is a good training menu, Rei. The probability that everyone would improve is more than 70 percent."

"I knew you'd see this my way, Yanagi-_senpai_."

* * *

><p>"<em>Ne<em>, Miki?"

"Hm?"

"I know I promised you to a tennis game, but... why are we at Hyotei's tennis courts?"

Miyuki grinned at her, and Rei sighed. "Okay, I stand corrected: why must I help Hyotei's sleepy friend when I'm Rikkaidai's manager?"

Miyuki pouted at that. "Wei-_chan_ no want help a fwen?" At 'friend', she pointed to a sleeping blonde up in the stands.

The brunette sighed again. "That's not what I meant..." she muttered. She just could not see a way to explain how she felt like she was betraying her own team, despite the fact that it was just meant to be a game between friends.

"But Yuu-_chi_ said that, aside from Mawui, Jiwow is always motivated when he's around Yuki-_hime_, so maybe he'll feel more motivated to train."

"Or so this...Yuu-_chi_ said?"

"Or so he said."

Rei sighed again. "_Maa_... I don't really mind, but... who's this Yuu-_chi_ yo-" Of _course_. It could only be _him_. "Don't tell me... Oshitari Yuushi."

A low chuckle sounded from the entrance of the courts, and the two managers turned to see Hyotei's resident blue-haired member walk in. "Right in one," he drawled. He came forward, set his tennis bag down beside Rei's, and bowed in the same manner a gentleman would. "Nice to officially meet you, Rikkaidai's _ohime-san_."

The brunette gave him a sarcastic smile. '_Don't call me that_,' she thought but said instead, "And with that, my first impression of you has been destroyed."

Another low chuckle. "_Ara_, that's harsh."

More sarcasm. "I aim to hurt."

In the midst of the sarcastic banter, Miyuki headed up the stands to poke said sleeping blonde.

"Jiwooooow! Jiwow, wakeeeey-_Mweeeeee_!"

At the loud 'mwee', the two bantering looked up in her direction to see the narcoleptic teen had sat up and was hugging the redhead - though he did not seem to realize it.

"Eh...? Since when was my pillow blue...?

"Miki's hair is _reeeeeeeeeeeeeeed_!"

"And it has a nice lavender smell~"

"IT'S _GREEN TEEEEAAAAAAA_!"

"Ah well... as long as it's comfortable to sleep with~"

"_MIKI NAWT PIWWOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!_"

The redhead sent pitiful glances at the brunette and blue-haired teen after trying and failing to get Jirou to let go of her. "Hwelp mweee..."

At her sad plea, Rei could not help but burst out laughing, and Oshitari chuckled, shaking his head at the scene. While the two of them were too busy being amused at Miyuki's predicament, Atobe had walked in, looking slightly annoyed.

"What's with all the ruckus, _ah~n_?"

"_CAKEY, HWELP MWEEEEEE!_"

Atobe blinked; "'Cakey'?" Oshitari repeated, looking like he was trying not to laugh, and Rei just continued laughing - the call for help to a cake apparently gave her a very funny mental image.

Sighing, Atobe glanced up at the 'situation' Miyuki got herself into, and, completely ignoring the fact he was called a cake again, yelled.

"Oy, Jirou! Wake up!"

Potentially reaction to the captain's voice, Jirou stirred. "Hn? Ah..." he yawned. "Atobe, is practice over...?"

And that was when he realized he was hugging someone.

"_Are_? Miki?" A pause. "IT'S MIKI-_CHAAAAAAAN_!"

Rei laughed again as Miyuki screamed when Jirou hugged her even tighter. The now-awake teen released his grip on the redhead and apologized as Miyuki pouted first at Jirou, then at Rei.

"Miki-_chan_, what're you doing here?"

Miyuki blinked at him, then gestured at her tennis bag and simply answered, "Tennis."

And that was that.

Because Oshitari declared that it was plain odd for him and Jirou to partner up for doubles, they decided on their singles match partners via coin flip (coin provided and flipped by Atobe). Much to Miyuki and Jirou's joy, they got to play against each other, which left Rei to play against Oshitari.

"My apologies for making you stay here while we played, Atobe," Oshitari said to the captain before he started his match with Rei, and Hyotei's captain shrugged as he sat on the coach's bench.

"I allowed you to bring outsiders in to use the court; it's a given I would stay to make sure everything's all right, _ah~n_?"

Oshitari chuckled. "If you say so."

With that, the two pairs begun their matches. Miyuki, as was normal for her, started off slowly, taking her time to study her opponent before attacking. Rei, on the other hand, had no such reservations and was attacking the moment they begun their rally.

It was also expected that the blue-haired teen would counter all her shots. In fact, he did it so easily that Rei felt like punching him. Not that she would, but with that smug smirk, he was asking for it. She was that close to losing the first game when she _did_ punch him - hypothetically speaking that is.

No one expected her to suddenly hit her senior's technique, after all.

"'Tightrope Walking'...?" Oshitari muttered, and Rei shrugged.

"I still can't hit that properly, but it looks like it worked for now."

A low hum sounded from Oshitari's throat. "...you are better than I thought, Rikkai-_hime_."

Rei twitched. "If I win one game against you, you'll stop calling me 'princess'."

The blue-haired teen raised an eyebrow. "And why should I?"

"It's gross," came the deadpan response, and Oshitari chuckled.

On the other court, Miyuki had begun her attack after dropping the first game. Jirou grinned. "Miki-_chan_ can play tennis well," the blonde chirped, and Miyuki grinned back.

"Jirou, concentrate. She'll start attacking so-" Oshitari's advice to his teammate was cut short when the tennis ball zoomed past him and slammed against the baseline of the court before bouncing away harmlessly. Hyotei's resident genius turned his gaze to a smirking Rei, who had just relaxed from the pose hitting that one technique would cause.

"Don't you have your _own_ match to concentrate on, fake glasses-wearing _senpai_?"

'_Yagyuu's 'Laser Beam' this time..._' he thought before he chuckled and straightened up. "I see... you're able to use others' skills as though they were your own..." He smirked right back, feeling himself get serious. "I guess I can't let my guard down."

Observing both matches with his Insight active from the sidelines, Atobe would honestly say he was surprised - but since no one was going to ask him anything at that point, no one would know. He could remember how Miyuki played somewhat from the last time he saw her play, and Takeuchi's strength was... probably to be expected for Rikkai.

'_Looks like they're more than just managers_,' he thought to himself. Jirou let out a joyful exclamation as Miyuki started to return shots she missed in the first game. The two volley specialists did not hit any techniques like Oshitari and Takeuchi were, and was it just him, or was Miyuki playing with her right hand...? She was a left-hander, if he remembered right...

"_Heeh_, you can return that?" Jirou asked brightly. "Well then, what about this?"

"_Daijoubui_~" Miyuki sing-songed her answer as she returned the shot.

While the two volley specialists' match was full of smiles and laughter, the one between the all-rounded genius and aggressive baseliner, on the other hand, was rather... heated.

"_STOP_ HIGUMA OTOSHI_-ING, DARN YOU_!"

"No can do. I don't particularly want to be forced to stop calling you _hime_, and you keep smashing."

...there was that too. Atobe mentally sighed. The things he did for his team...

For rather obvious reasons, Jirou and Miyuki had to change court faster than Oshitari and Rei's. While they had a water break, the blonde remembered something and began talking excitedly.

"So so so, I was thinking, next time, we should go to that parfait shop opposite the train station!" he exclaimed, gesturing about excitedly. "I wanna challenge the Giant Parfait with Marui-_kun_!"

Miyuki perked. "Okai," she agreed, then turned to the two still locked in a rally. "Wei-_chan_ come too!"

"Huh?" the brunette asked intelligently as she returned a ball. "What're you talking about again?"

"Parfait!" the volleyers exclaimed together - Atobe swore he saw sparkles and little flowers around them.

"Ah, sure," came the distracted reply, and the two asking her cheered. They probably did not realize the other manager _really _was not sure what they were talking about, focused as she was with her rally against Oshitari.

For obvious reasons again, the volleyers finished their match faster than the other two (Oshitari and Rei just only took a break when their side ended) with a score of 6 games to 3 in Jirou's favor. Miyuki pouted even as she drank some water.

"Miki loooost..."

"That was fuuuun, let's have a match again, Miiiikiiiiii-_chaaaan_!"

Grinning at the elder teen's enthusiasm, Miyuki nodded and was promptly glomped. "Yaaaaaaaaaaaay! _Ure-C_!"

"Miki is happy too~!"

Then Jirou gasped, as though remembering something important. "Because I won!"

The redhead blinked innocently. "Because Jiwow won...?"

"I'll give Miki-_chan_ my wristband!"

He did exactly that, thrusting the colorful wristband in her face. The younger stared at said colorful wristband, not saying a word. Jirou grinned.

"The next time we have a match, you should show me your killer moves!"

"...kiwwer moves...?"

"Yup yup! A super cool killer move that I cannot return!"

While the two were enthusiastically chatting away, the (extremely heated) match between Oshitari and Rei finally drew to a close with a score of 6 games to 4 in Oshitari's favor.

"You really are better than I thought, Rikkai-_hime_."

"Shut up," the brunette huffed, wiping her sweat with a towel. "The bet was if I won one game, you'll stop calling me princess. I got four games from you, so stop calling me that."

A smirk. "Aaah, I really don't want to, though. Besides, I never said I agreed to that bet."

"...can I punch you?"

"It'll hurt, so I'll pass."

"It's _meant_ to hurt, you idiot."

Miyuki soon joined in the banter, and after they had enough rest, decided to play doubles after all. Oshitari turned to call Jirou to join them, only to find the narcoleptic teen sleeping yet again.

The redhead bounded up to him and patted his head. "Jiwow died?"

The sleeping teen shifted in his sleep and Miyuki quickly scurried away, not wanting to be caught in another inescapable hug again. "No gwomp mwe, yew naughty!" she cried, whacking him.

Jirou only snored and shifted again.

"...that's impressive..."

"We deal with this everyday, Rikkai-_hime_."

"Good on you," came the deadpan response. Then a sigh. "But how are we supposed to play doubles now?"

A long pause before the trio turned to stare at Atobe, who has been silently sitting on the bench the entire time. The captain raised an eyebrow at them for a few moments before sighing and standing up.

"Fine. I'll help you fill in that empty slot for doubles," he said, loosening his tie as he stood. "Decide the pairs and let's begin."

Wordlessly, Miyuki clung to Rei, and the brunette sniggered. "I guess that decided the pairs."

Quickly deciding which pair would get the first serve, they began their rally. By some unspoken deal, Miyuki took on the role of defence while Rei attacked, which led to more than a few net battles between the brunette and Atobe (Oshitari was quite amused).

When the first game reached a tie-breaker (quite impressive for them to do so, if Oshitari wanted to be smug), Atobe sighed. "Take off those weights," he ordered, and the two managers blinked. "Did you really think you could win against me and Oshitari if you kept them on, _ah~n_?"

A pause. "Wei-_chan_, can I throw my weights at him?"

"They're heavy. It'll hurt," Rei answered even as she knelt down to remove them.

"That's the _whole point_!"

A sigh. "Do as you like."

"Miki will!"

"_OY_."

The 'oy' came from three sources: Atobe himself; Oshitari, who, for the first time, felt the need to protect his captain; and Rei, who immediately grabbed Miyuki's leg to prevent her for doing exactly that. Miyuki pouted.

* * *

><p>It was a good day, Yuushi thought to himself. Getting Yuki-<em>hime<em> to come to Hyotei proved to be a good plan in getting Jirou to at least play a bit of tennis that day - and the little princess brought someone whom he thought was the least likeliest person she would bring.

He sat at his table and took off his glasses; no point wearing those at home, after all. Pulling out his homework for the day, his mind drifted off to the singles match he had played with Rikkaidai's manager and felt himself smirk again.

Rikkai-_hime_ (no, he was _not_ going to stop calling her that anytime soon) has completely contrasting auras that depended on whether she was playing singles or doubles, and _who_ her partner was, if his observations were right. The brunette, when playing singles, was much like a predator, unrelenting in her attacks until her prey was 'dead', so to speak. He believed he knew who Kirihara Akaya took after in play style now (their smirks were similar too, now that he thought about it), though it was rather obvious that the princess knew how to control herself better than the other.

When playing doubles, and with Yuki-_hime_ at that, made the brunette's aura go a complete 180 that it was almost funny. Not to say she was not predatory anymore - she was, but Rikkai-_hime_ was more... _open_ to test the waters and in trying new strategies, occasionally changing the pace of the game with no warning to her partner except for a quick glance or a faint nod. That in itself, Yuushi thought, was testament to exactly how much Rikkai-_hime_ _trusted_ Yuki-_hime_'s support, and was _exactly_ the reason why the brunette's full potential shone.

Of course, Rikkai-_hime_'s attacks would not have worked without proper support on Yuki-_hime_'s part. Yuushi played against Yuki-_hime_ numerous times; he more or less knew her style. The redhead was the type that would silently observe before reacting as needed - and she did exactly that during their doubles match. Reading the flow of the game and adapting easily to her partner's change of pace, Yuki-_hime_ was allowed to fully fall into her prefered role when playing tennis - support, which was further emphasized by her flexibility and field of vision (also, motion vision).

When he asked her, Yuki-_hime_ told him that she only knew Rikkai-_hime_ for less than a month, and for them to be able to play so well together...

'_They make a good team_,' Yuushi thought to himself, stretching slightly. '_I look forward to playing against them again._'

* * *

><p><strong>OMAKE:<strong>

As was usual for Rikkaidai's tennis team, the regulars went to visit their hospitalized captain after training. Before they went in, though, Rei idly said that she wanted to get something to drink and did exactly that after telling them to go on ahead. Akaya trailed after his 'big sister' like a puppy, whining that he wanted one too, and the brunette indulged her 'brother' with exasperated fondness.**  
><strong>

So the third years all entered their captain's hospital room, calling out their own greetings to the blue-haired teen. Niou plopped onto the bed, smirking at his captain.

Yukimura blinked. "Yes, Niou?"

"Your _darling_ made me a _bentou_ today," the silver-haired teen announced, smirking. Yukimura twitched. "It was _delicious_."

By the side, everyone else (mentally) panicked. "N-Niou-_kun_..." Yagyuu tried admonishingly, but Rei and Akaya chose that moment to enter the room.

Yukimura smiled far too brightly at their manager. "Ah, Rei, good timing," he said, smiling. "Would you be so nice to _up_ their training menus?"

Rei blinked, looking confused. "Uh... I just di-"

"It's fine, it's fine," Yukimura cut her off. "They can handle it. Besides, it'll be _good training_ for Nationals."

"Um... okay...?" the confused manager agreed, and the regulars all glared at Niou as a whole.

Niou merely smirked. "_Piyo_~"

(Of course, Rei only increased the regulars' training menu a week later (in accordance to their growth, you see), but no one told Yukimura _that_.)


End file.
